296 



INCIDENTS OP TRAVEL. 



I walked on to the campo santo, for the purpose 

 of carrying away two skulls which I had selected 

 and laid aside on the charnel pile at the time of the 

 funeral. I had taken some precautions, for the news 

 of the carrying off the bones from San Francisco 

 had created some excitement among the Indians all 

 over the country; and as I had to pass a long row of 

 huts, I had procured two calabazas, or gourds, for 

 drinking cups, which I carried in a pocket-hand- 

 kerchief, and intended to throw away in the grave- 

 yard, and substitute the skulls. On reaching the pile, 

 however, I found that other hands had been upon 

 it. The skulls I had selected had been displaced and 

 mingled with the others, so that I could not iden- 

 tify them. I examined the whole heap, but could 

 recognise only the huge skull of an African and 

 that of the woman I had seen dug up. The latter 

 was the skull of a full-blooded Indian, but it had 

 been damaged by the crowbar ; besides, I had seen 

 all her bones and her very flesh taken piecemeal 

 out of the grave ; I had heard so much of her that 

 she seemed an acquaintance, and I had some qualms 

 of conscience about carrying her skull away. In 

 fact, alone in the stillness and silence of the place, 

 something of a superstitious feeling came over 

 me ahout disturbing the bones of the dead and 

 robbing a graveyard. I should nevertheless, per- 

 haps, have taken up two skulls at random, but, to 

 increase my wavering feeling, I saw two Indian 

 women peeping at me tlirough the trees, and, not 



