68 



PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO. 



and every one retiring in consequence, the body disappeared by some other 

 avenue, and I could not possibly discover how it was afterwards disposed of- 

 Upon another occasion of the funeral obsequies of a general officer, I attempted 

 to see their mode of executing this last office ; but, from the quickness with 

 which they slid away, and the extinguishing of the lights, I was again disap- 

 pointed. A friend, however, gave me the following description of the interment 

 of a girl, at which he was present. After the ceremony and the music had 

 ceased, they proceeded from the said church of Our Lady of Carmo to the 

 catacombs, where he arrived, with two or three others, at that point of the 

 cemetery which was to receive the remains. The padres had disappeared, and 

 no one was there but the father of the girl and a person who may be styled the 

 sexton. The outer coverings had been taken off, and the girl appeared richly 

 dressed in embroidered muslin, with silk stockings, and new shoes on, as if 

 equipped for an assembly. The coffin had no bottom, but the body was sup- 

 ported upon a piece of satin, securely nailed around the upper part of it, when 

 the nails being withdrawn from the sides, the father, who was not dressed in 

 the sable vestments of a mourner but in those of a bridegroom, disgusted my 

 friend by his wanton and unfeeling conduct, and at this moment threw a piece 

 of muslin to the sexton, urging him to despatch by shouting out " depressa, 

 depressa" The muslin being drawn over the face of the girl, a large quantity 

 of quick lime was placed upon it, and another portion spread from the head 

 along the breast to the body, with a quantity on each side, when the man, with 

 much ceremony, formed a cross upon it with his trowel. During the operation, 

 the father, devoid of every proper sense of decency, cried out to him, " Vamos, 

 vamos" (let us go) ; and, at another time, " Vamos, depressa, filho da pouta" 

 To render this last exclamation into English would only wound the feelings of 

 those who do not understand it. Quick lime being now placed upon the flat 

 stone of the cemetery, which runs horizontally a long way back, exhibiting its 

 awful contents, the coffin was lifted up, and the nails of the end being also 

 taken out, the body and piece of satin fell upon the quick lime, and the coffin 

 was removed away. The cemeteries are afterwards walled up and plastered 

 over in front. This father then, and even before, at the close of the church 

 ceremony, embraced many people for joy, invited some to go home with him 

 to a grand supper prepared for the occasion, and felt convinced that his child 

 was gone to Heaven. Two or three hundred pounds are occasionally expended 

 at funerals. 



The catacombs are small but extremely neat, the first part forming a square. 



