COFFIN OPENED.
"This was an enclosure with four thick walls, in which there were niches for the coffins, in the same manner as in a receiving tomb at Greenwood or Mount Auburn. The coffin was placed on a stand near one of the niches, the cover was opened, a handkerchief was spread over the face of the corpse, and one of the priests sprinkled the body with holy water, and threw a scoopful of quicklime upon it.
CEMETERY OF THE PAULA CHURCH.
"The other priests and the friends of the deceased followed his example one by one, the sprinkler and scoop being passed to them by a sacristan. The lime was thus heaped on until there was at least a bushel of it, completely concealing the body; the coffin was slid into its niche; the door was closed and locked, the key was delivered to one of the friends of the deceased, and then the attendants proceeded to close the space in front of the door with brick and plaster. Orations were pronounced by those who chose to speak, and the ceremonies were over.
"We were told that the bodies do not decay, in the ordinary acceptation of the word. The flesh is consumed by the quicklime; at the end of two years the niche is opened, the bones are removed and placed in a funeral vase, and the niche is then ready for another tenant. No names are placed above the niches, but each one is numbered, and a reference to the register of the cemetery will show by whom and for how long a particular place is occupied. Fees are exacted for the funeral services and the rent of the niches; in fact, there is hardly anything in life or death in Brazil in which the Church does not have a place. Christenings, baptisms, marriages, death, and burials are all within its supervision."