244 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



all the smaller bones. Below the ribs, from the 

 back downward, the flesh had not decayed, but dried 

 up and adhered to the bones, which, all hanging to- 

 gether, they lifted out and laid upon the pile. All 

 this was done decently and with respect. 



As I stood by the enclosure of bones, I took up 

 different skulls, and found that they were all known 

 and identified. The campo santo had been opened 

 but about five years, and every skull had once sat 

 upon the shoulders of an acquaintance. 



The graves were all on one side, and on the 

 other no dead had been buried. I suggested to the 

 mayoral, that by beginning on the farther side, and 

 burying in order, every corpse would have time to 

 decay and become dust before its place was wanted 

 for another, which he seemed to think a good idea, 

 and communicated it to the Indians, who stopped 

 their work, looked at him and at me, and then went 

 on digging. I added, that in a few years the bones 

 of the friend they were about burying, and his 

 own, and those of all the rest of them, would be 

 pulled and handled like those on the pile, which, 

 also, he communicated to them, and with the same 

 effect. In the mean time I had overhauled the 

 skulls, and placed on the top two which I ascertain- 

 ed to be those of full-blooded Indians, intending to 

 appropriate and carry them off at the first conve- 

 nient opportunity. 



The Indians worked as slowly as if each was dig- 

 ging his own grave, and at length the husband of 



