316 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



Believing that nothing but an excessive prejudice, as ill 

 suited to the lights of the age, as it is prejudicial to the public 

 health, can perpetuate the abuse of interring dead bodies in the 

 temples consecrated to the assembling of the faithful, and to the 

 worship of the Eternal ; 



I therefore order, 



1st. That no body shall be buried outside of the Pantheon, 

 be the defunct^s rank in society what it may. 



<«2d. That the bodies of nuns shall also be buried in the 

 Pantheon ; and carried there with all the religious ceremony 

 which ought to be observed towards the remains of any one 

 who has been the spouse (esposa) of Jesus Christ. 



3d. That the present decree shall be communicated to the 

 governor of the bishopric, and be inserted in the official gazette, 

 that it may be complied with. 



Given in the Protectoral Palace of Lima, October 25th, 

 1821.* 



" San Martin. 



By a subsequent decree, however, nuns are permitted to be 

 buried in the cemeteries of the monasteries in which they may 

 have died ; and I believe the same privilege is extended to friars 

 belonging to convents. 



Towards sunset, the concourse moved in a stream towards 

 the city. Many an officer of gallant bearing, and many a 

 gay cavalier, glanced at the beauty in the passing calesas. 

 Many a negro sang some amusing ditty as he strode along, 

 mocking the solemnity with which the day was intended to be 

 observed. The scene was almost as gay as that presented by a 

 ■crowd returning from a bull-bait ; there is little respect mani- 

 fested towards the memory of the dead, after the requisite 

 number of masses have been said to liberate them from the 

 pangs of purgatory. 



At the corner of a church by which w^e passed, stood a table 

 covered with a black cloth, bordered with narrow gold lace. 

 <3n the centre of it was a naked, wooden, half figure of a female 

 in the attitude of prayer. On one side was a silver crucifix, 



* Coleccion de las leyes del Peru. 



