A GREAT CHARNEL HOUSE. 417 



staircase was a large vase piled full, and the cross was 

 surmounted with them. Within the enclosure was 

 a promiscuous assemblage of skulls and bones sev- 

 eral feet deep. Along the wall, hanging by cords, 

 were the bones and skulls of individuals in boxes 

 and baskets, or tied up in cloths, with names writ- 

 ten upon them, and, as at Ticul, there were the frag- 

 ments of dresses, while some of the skulls had still 

 adhering to them the long black hair of women. 



The floor of the church was interspersed with 

 long patches of cement, which covered graves, and 

 near one of the altars was a box with a glass case, 

 within which were the bones of a woman, the wife 

 of a lively old gentleman whom we were in the 

 habit of seeing every day. They were clean and 

 bright as if polished, with the skull and cross-bones 

 in front, the legs and arms laid on the bottom, and 

 the ribs disposed regularly in order, one above the 

 other, as in life, having been so arranged by the 

 husband himself ; a strange attention, as it seemed, 

 to a deceased wife. At the side of the case was a 

 black board, containing a poetical inscription (in 

 Spanish) written by him. 



" Stop, mortal ! 

 Look at yourself in this mirror, 

 And in its pale reflection 

 Behold your end ! 

 This eclipsed crystal 

 Had splendour and brilliancy ; 

 But the dreadful blow 

 Of a fatal destiny 

 Fell upon Manuela Carillo. 



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