NOTICES OP PERU. 



255 



over the bones of the face, giving sharpness to the features ; 

 the eyelids were closed and sunk deep into the sockets ; the 

 hands were clasped in front below the chest, and the feet were 

 bare. Yet the sight was not awful. I thought that Methuse- 

 lah, towards the close of his nine hundred years of life, might 

 have looked thus when sleeping. 



While gazing on one of these withered corses, the sacristan, 

 looking closely at the head, said, in his habitually subdued 

 tone, ^'Este debe ser Virrey, porque no lleva corona" — This 

 must be a vice-king, because he does not wear a crown, (a 

 queer reason,) meaning the clerical tonsure. Could this be 

 the conqueror Pizarro ! It was not the body of a churchman, 

 as the sacristdn had shrewdly remarked, yet there were no 

 inscriptions on any of the boxes fixed to the wall. Neverthe- 

 less, it is certain that in this boveda is deposited whatever 

 remains of Pizarro's body. Whether it be in the well beneath, 

 or in this upper vault, I could not discover. 



On one side of the vault lay a long box, with a piece of 

 parchment nailed on one end of it, bearing the following in- 

 scription in Roman letters, and without date. 



" El Sor. Dr. Santiago de Mendoza, Dean que fue de 

 ESTA Santa Yglesia." 



"The Senor Dr. Santiago de Mendoza, who was Dean of 

 this holy church." 



There are three other boxes, containing the bones of a Dean 

 and two Prebendaries of the church, as we are informed by 

 the inscriptions, which bear date 1728, 1766, and 1771. These 

 were the only inscriptions I could discover. 



When we ascended into the church, the good sexton, through 

 the intervention of that eloquent mute, whose language is irre- 

 sistible, and whose possessor always enjoys the respect of the 

 world, was prevailed upon to return the key to the Ec6nomo,* 

 without locking the door. Thus I secured for myself access 

 on other occasions. 



After Pizarro had founded the "City of Kings," and his 



* The officer appointed to administer the fiscal affairs of the church, and, to 

 superintend generally all its property, moveable as well as real. 



