368 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



alcalde wrote him Catolico Romano Apostolico Chris- 

 tiano. Mr. Bailey himself did not contemplate this; he 

 knew the difficulty in the case of my countryman about 

 six months before ; and wishing to spare his friends a 

 disagreeable and, perhaps, unsuccessful controversy, had 

 already indicated a particular tree under which he wish- 

 ed to be buried. Before the will was read to him he 

 died. His answer to the alcalde was considered evi- 

 dence of his orthodoxy ; his friends did not interfere, 

 and he was buried under the special direction of the 

 priests, with all the holiest ceremonies of the Church. 

 It was the greatest day ever known in Cartago. The 

 funeral was attended by all the citizens. The proces- 

 sion started from the door of the church, headed by vi- 

 olins and drums ; priests followed, with all the crosses, 

 figures of saints, and banners that had been accumula- 

 ting from the foundation of the city. At the corners of 

 the plaza and of all the principal streets, the procession 

 stopped to sing hallelujahs, to represent the joy in 

 Heaven over a sinner that repents. 



While standing in the corridor we saw pass the man 

 who had accompanied the bier, with the child in his 

 arms. He was its father, and with a smile on his face 

 was carrying it to its grave. He was followed by two 

 boys playing on violins, and others were laughing around. 

 The child was dressed in white, Avith a wreath of roses 

 around its head ; and as it lay in its father's arms it 

 did not seem dead, but sleeping. The grave was not 

 quite ready, and the boys sat on the heap of dii t thrown 

 out, and played the violin till it was finished. The fa- 

 ther then laid the child carefully in its final resting- 

 place, with its head to the rising sun ; folded its little 

 hands across its breast, and closed its fingers around a 

 small wooden crucifix ; and it seemed, as they thought 



