318 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



the number exceed eight. If surplices are desired, which may 

 not exceed eight, including two chanting ecclesiastics, he may- 

 receive for each two dollars. For a chanted burial without the 

 parish, the charge is one third more. For a chanted mass, in 

 honor of the deceased, at the end of the year, with a vigil also 

 chanted, the curate is entitled to eight dollars. But these ho- 

 nors, and ^'cabo de ano," or end of the year, are not obliga- 

 tory. If the parties desire a " novena," or nine days of chant- 

 ed masses, with a vigil, ended with a single response, the cu- 

 rate is entitled to two dollars for each. For the interment of 

 a child, the charge is eight dollars ; but more, if accompanied 

 with ringing of bells, and surplices. Natives, or Indians, are 

 to pay nothing, unless they are known to possess property ; 

 then they are charged one half. Such are the rates fixed by 

 law, but they are not attended to, and the curates always en- 

 deavor to impress upon the minds of the parishioners, how 

 important these masses are to the rest of the defunct's soul ! 



Not long since the god-child of a lady died; the parents 

 were too much reduced to give it that kind of burial which 

 their former circumstances warranted. The god-mother gene- 

 rously undertook the management and expense of the funeral. 

 To ascertain what were the expenses and proper steps to be 

 taken, she called on the curate of the parish. He told her, 

 that the expense, if a Spanish child, would be forty-eight 

 dollars ; if a plebeian of the country, twelve dollars ; and if be- 

 longing to any one of the various castes, six dollars. Now as 

 this was a Spanish child, the expense would be forty-eight dol- 

 lars, and a mass the next day to deliver its soul from purga- 

 tory, would be twelve dollars extra ! She told him, that as 

 infants' souls did not stop in purgatory, she supposed the mass 

 would be unnecessary. Puez bueno" — very well, said he, 

 if you choose to run the risk of it, the mass may be dispensed 

 with, but the funeral will be not a quartillo less than forty- 

 €ight dollars." However patriotic it might be thought, in the 

 time of the revolution, to charge more for the interment of a 

 Spanish subject, we should suppose that Christian charity 

 would have caused this pious clergyman to have equalized the 

 expense, now it is over ! 



