NOTICES OP PERU. 



317 



and on the other a silver plate, containing reales, medios, and 

 quartillos, and on each corner was placed a human skull. Be- 

 side the table sat a mulatto priest, under a broad brimmed hat 

 rolled up at the sides, and a black silk habit. Beggary is con- 

 ducted in a magnificent style in Peru ! I asked the priest what 

 it all meant. He told me that the image was an ''dnima," 

 or departed spirit, in the flames of purgatory, and that the 

 skulls were to remind us that we must all die- — that the next 

 day was to be devoted to saying masses for the dead, and he 

 was collecting alms for that purpose. I asked if the skulls were 

 of Indians. He replied, «^No ! they are from the Pantheon.^' 

 And pray, said I, may they not be, nevertheless, Indian skulls 

 — what is the difference? " Puez Senor esos son de Cristianos 

 — los Indios no son !" — These, Sir, are Christians, the Indians 

 are not.^' 



The second day of November (that following All Saints), 

 masses were said in all the churches in the city for the repose 

 of the dead. In the cathedral there was a procession of church 

 dignitaries and priests, all dressed in cloaks of gold and silver 

 lama, trimmed with black velvet; and each wore a black velvet 

 cross over the back. In the church of the convent of San Fran- 

 cisco, I saw a priest leave the choir where he was chanting 

 mass, and step behind a pillar and say a response, for which 

 he received a real from a negro who had beckoned him out ! 



In Lima, and indeed throughout Peru, funerals are attend- 

 ed with great expense. The curates exacted so much on these 

 occasions, that a law was passed, assigning the amounts that 

 might be charged for each kind of interment. The articles re- 

 quired that curates should bury the poor, and those who had 

 been in any public employment, without any charge whatever. 

 For a burial in the parochial or semi-parochial church, with 

 the corpse present, the curate is entitled to sixteen dollars, in- 

 cluding the vigil, mass, and two chanted responses, ^'cruz 

 alta" or elevated cross, censer and chiming of bells ; but no 

 mourner is required to observe this pomp, unless the deceas- 

 ed may have so ordered in his will, or his heirs desire it. If 

 the mourners should require more ^'posas,'^ or passing bells, 

 the curate may receive two dollars for each, but in no case can 



