BURNING THE DEAD. 
187 
we had the usual procession of nuns and priests, and the next 
day was ushered in by the discordant clamor of church-bells. 
I say this without reproach, for half the bells were cracked, (and 
it was a great wonder they were not all so,) and every morning 
from daylight to nine, they were undergoing the ordeal of a se¬ 
vere drubbing. 
The vaults of Panama in which the dead are deposited, are 
laid up in mason work, and resemble a succession of large ovens. 
They are under the control of the priests, and are the ‘source of 
an immense revenue. Of the strange and often barbarous cus¬ 
toms adopted by the church here, the most strange, the most inhu¬ 
man and revolting, is that of burning the bodies of the dead. 
This diabolical practice cannot be contemplated without feelings 
of indignation and horror. Nations have praticed the burning 
of their dead in order to preserve their ashes, but this is not the 
object here—would that I could have learned an object so lauda¬ 
ble—but here nothing can be said in mitigation. The word of 
the priest is potent, and considered by the people a mandate 
from Heaven. Whatever he requires is submitted to with 
cheerfulness, they thinking it the will of the Supreme Being. 
The priest requires a fee for his important intercessions for the 
dead, as well for the consecrated tapers that burn at the head 
of the corpse during the funeral services, as for a place in conse¬ 
crated ground, and prayers for the soul which is supposed to 
linger a long and painful probation in purgatory, after the body 
is consigned to the tomb. The friends of the dead are obliged to 
pay in proportion to the services rendered. A requiem in a 
whisper costs but half as much as one in an audible tone of 
voice, and one on high “C” is still much more expensive. A 
place for burial in the earth, even in consecrated ground, is pro¬ 
cured at a moderate cost, but in the vaults, above described, the 
charge is much, higher, often beyond the means of the poorer 
classes. These-vaults as well as the consecrated ground belong 
to the church, and the proceeds go into the hands of the priests. 
The vaults are not numerous, and are of sufficient capacity only 
to accommodate the deaths of a few months; but in order to serve 
all, the priests have hit upon the expedient of an annual u fune¬ 
ral pile.” “ All-Saint’s day ” in each year, is the one dedicated to 
this sacrilegious act. On that day the vaults give up their dead, 
