A CAMPO SANTO. 



243 



the ceremonies of the church, and was intended as 

 a burial-place for all who died on the estate ; a rude 

 place, befitting the rude and simple people for whom 

 it was designed. When we entered we saw a 

 grave half dug, which had been abandoned on ac- 

 count of the stones, and some Indians were then 

 occupied in digging another. 



Only one part of the cemetery had been used as 

 a burial-place, and this was indicated by little wood- 

 en crosses, one planted at the head of each grave. 

 In this part of the cemetery was a stone enclosure 

 about four feet high, and the same in diameter, 

 which was intended as a sort of charnel-house, and 

 was then filled with skulls and bones, whitening in 

 the sun. I moved to this place, and began exam- 

 ining the skulls. 



The Indians, in digging the grave, used a crow- 

 bar and machete, and scooped out the loose earth 

 with their hands. As the work proceeded, I heard 

 the crowbar enter something with a cracking, tear- 

 ing sound : it had passed through a human skull. 

 One of the Indians dug it out with his hands, and, 

 after they had all examined and commented upon it, 

 handed it to the mayoral, who gave it to me. They 

 all knew whose skull it was. It was that of a 

 woman who had been born and brought up, and 

 who had died among them, and whom they had 

 buried only the last dry season, but little more than 

 a year before. The skull was laid upon the pile, 

 and the Indians picked out the arms and legs, and 



