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CALIFORNIA ILLUSTRATED. 
■which are carried a short distance and committed to the 
flames. 
This act would be less revolting if done effectually, but like 
everything done in this country, it is but half done. Men are 
hired to do the work, but wood being scarce, and not expecting 
the priests to inspect, they do as little work as possible, keeping in 
view their reward. I can never forget my feelings, upon visit¬ 
ing this scene of annual desecration ; my very soul sickens with 
disgust at the recollection of it. Here were coffins half-burned, 
exhibiting the ghastly visages of their lifeless tenants; others 
having turned over during the conflagration, had emptied the 
half-decayed bodies upon the ground; some partially con¬ 
sumed, others still shrouded in their grave-clothes. Here lay 
the head and part of the chest of a stalwart frame, the flesh hav¬ 
ing but just commenced .to decay, the countenance still bearing 
the impress of its Maker. Very near, partially shrouded in a 
winding sheet, were the delicately moulded limbs of a female, 
who had for a brief period tenanted the house of death, now 
brought forth and committed to the flames. 
It will be a consolation to those residing in the States, who 
have lost friends at Panama, to know that no one out of the church 
is allowed burial in consecrated ground; their remains, conse- 
sequently, are not disturbed. According to the true theory of 
religion, infants that die before baptism go directly to purga¬ 
tory, notwithstanding their parents may belong to the true 
church. As a suitable receptacle for these unfortunate little 
innocents, deep pits are dug in the rear of the churches, into 
which they are unceremoniously cast; their influence upon con¬ 
secrated ground would, it is thought, be contaminating. Curiosity 
led me to inspect one of these pits ; what I beheld I will leave to 
the imagination of the reader. I am not prepared to say positively , 
but I believe that the true theory in reference to these infants 
is, that they are not irrevocably lost, but to reclaim them from 
purgatory requires a gigantic effort on the part of the church. 
There are many things here to attract and awaken interest in 
the mind, but no matter how strong the desire for information, 
nothing can be learned from the lower classes of the population. 
The source of information which, in the States is inexhaustible, 
is here barren ; for to say that a New Grenadian even knows his 
