ROWS OF HUMAN SKULLS. 



419 



che: a Paternoster and an Ave Maria for God's 

 sake, brother." This was an old schoolmaster of 

 the padrecito, who had died but two years before. 



The padrecito handed me another, which said, 

 " I am Bartola Arana : a Paternoster," &c. This 

 was the skull of a Spanish lady whom he had 

 known, young and beautiful, but it could not be dis- 

 tinguished from that of the oldest and ugliest Indian 

 woman. " I am Anizetta Bib," was that of a pretty 

 young Indian girl whom he had married, and who 

 died but a year afterward. I took them all up one 

 by one ; the padrecito knew them all ; one was 

 young, another old ; one rich, another poor ; one 

 ugly, and another beautiful ; but here they were all 

 alike. Every skull bore the name of its owner, and 

 all begged a prayer. 



One said, "I am Richard Joseph de la Merced 

 Truxeque and Arana, who died the twenty-ninth 

 of April of the year 1838, and I am enjoying the 

 kingdom of God forever." This was the skull of a 

 child, which, dying without sin, had ascended to 

 heaven, and needed not the prayers of man. 



In one corner was a mourning box, painted black, 

 with a white border, containing the skull of an un- 

 cle of the padrecito. On it was written in Span- 

 ish, " In this box is enclosed the skull of Friar Vi- 

 cente Ortigon, who died in the village of Cuhul in 

 the year 1820. I beseech thee, pious and charita- 

 ble reader, to intercede with God for his soul, re- 

 peating an Ave Maria and a Paternoster, that he 



