rcase was a large vase
piled full, and the cross was surmounted with them. Within the
enclosure was a promiscuous assemblage of skulls and bones several feet
deep. Along the wall, hanging by cords, were the bones and skulls of
individuals in boxes and baskets, or tied up in cloths, with names
written upon them, and, as at Ticul, there were the fragments of
dresses, while some of the skulls had still adhering to them the long
black hair of women.

The floor of the church was interspersed with long patches of cement,
which covered graves, and near one of the altars was a box with a glass
case, within which were the bones of a woman, the wife of a lively old
gentleman whom we were in the habit of seeing every day. They were
clean and bright as if polished, with the skull and cross-bones in
front, the legs and arms laid on the bottom, and the ribs disposed
regularly in order, one above the other, as in life, having been so
arranged by the husband himself; a strange attention, as it seemed, to
a deceased wife. At the side of the case was a black board, containing
a poetical inscription (in Spanish) written by him.

"Stop, mortal!
Look at yourself in this mirror,
And in its pale reflection
Behold your end!
This eclipsed crystal
Had splendour and brilliancy;
But the dreadful blow
Of a fatal destiny
Fell upon Manuela Carillo.

"Born in Nohcacab in the year 1789, married at the same village to
Victoriano Machado in 1808, and died on the first of August, 1833,
after a union of 25 years, and in the forty-fourth of her age.
He implores your pious prayers."

The widowed husband wrote several stanzas more, but could not get them
on the black board; and made copies for private distribution, one of
which is in my hands.

[Engraving 50: Skull]

Near this were the bones of a brother of our friend the cura of Ticul
and those of a child, and in the choir of the church, in the embrazure
of a large window, were rows of skulls, all labelled on the forehead,
and containing startling inscriptions. I took up one, and staring me in
the face were the words, "Soy Pedro Moreno: un Ave Maria y un Padre
nuestro por Dios, hermano." "I am Peter Moreno: an Ave Maria and
Paternoster for God's sake, brother." Another said, "I am Apolono
Balche: a Paternoster and an Ave Maria for God's sake, brother." This
was an old sch