8o THE STANDARD GUIDE. 
of the thirty heroes to whom the memorial is dedicated; and the sentiments 
are inscribed: Llora su noble sacridcio —“We mourn their noble sacrifice,” 
and Bendice su abnegacion heroica —“We bless their heroic abnegation.” 
The shaft records the date of the tragedy, “Habana 17 de Mayo, 1890.” 
The sculptor was Augustin Querol, the architect Julio M. Zapatra. The 
monument is of Carrara marble; its cost was $79,000. 
Nearby is the tomb of General Maximo Gomez, chief in command of the 
Cuban army, and after the war held in affectionate regard as Cuba’s “grand 
old man.” Born at Boni, Santo Domingo-, 1836; died at Santiago, 1905. 
The monument was voted by the Congress. 
Beyond the Firemen’s Monument is' the chapel in which masses are 
celebrated for the repose of the soul of the dead. To the right of this 
is the plot where in 1898 the victims of the Maine were buried, pending 
their removal to their final resting place in the Arlington Cemetery at 
Washington. 
The initials “E. P. D.” seen on many tombs signify En pas descana — 
“He rests in peace.” The letters “E. G. E.” stand for En gracia esta —- 
—“He is in grace.” 
The prevailing mode of burial is in a stone-cased grave covered with 
a marble slab, or in vaults above the ground. In addition to the per¬ 
manent graves, there are others which are merely rented for a term oi 
years. Such a temporary grave for one person for five years costs $10; 
a grave for three persons for the same period costs $3 for each. At the 
expiration of the term the bones are removed and thrown into the 
Osario or bone pit. This is a walled receptacle seventy-five feet square 
and fifty feet deep, at the southwest corner of the cemetery. Into it are 
thrown indiscriminately in one common heap skeletons, fragments of 
coffins and discarded tombstones. 
In Havana the hearse is a gorgeous affair, highly colored and gilded, 
and perhaps bearing a motto, “Look for me to-morrow, you will not 
find me.” The horses are in trappings of ■ orange or purple and 
black; the driver wears a court dress of purple or scarlet, with three- 
cornered hat, claw-hammer coat, knee breeches and silver shoe-buckles; 
and there are liveried footmen in number corresponding with the grade 
of the funeral. Arriving at the cemetery, the coffin, is deposited before 
the sacristy, which is on the left of the gate, for the brief burial 
service, and thence is carried on the shoulders of four bearers to the 
grave. In funerals of the poorer class the dead are borne on the 
shoulders of bearers from the house to the cemetery. The coffin is 
sometimes rented for the occasion only, the body being deposited in 
the common trench and the coffin returned to the undertaker. As a 
rule, funerals in Havana lack the solemnity and order which are char¬ 
acteristic of such occasions in the United States. Women do not attend 
funerals from the house to the cemetery. 
