The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1873-07-17
CUBAN BURIALS.

Our dispatches give us a brief state
: ment of the devastation now going ON II
Cuba through the agency of Yellow Jack.
and it calls to mind the methods employ
ed in the island to dispose of their dead.
This strikes the American with the
greatest repugnance upon landing in ca
ba. To people who tenderly plsnt flow
ers around the graves of their loved de-
parted, and water them with tears of af-
lection, who decorate the burial grounds
with beautiful monuments and careful
trained shrubbery, until the church yard
becomes garden in its sadness the
Cuban cemetery is charnel house The
enclosures are not large, and are sur
rounded by high stone walls, and upon
the top of these, imbedded in cement.
are old nails, rusty spikes, fragments of
glass and broken bottles Across one
side of the yard is a wall eight or ten
feet thick, and which contains recepta-
cles into which can be slid coffin
These are arranged in rows and tiers,
like the pigeon holes in lawyers desk,
and are for the use of those who can pay
the rent; and upon receiving coffin the
enterance is plastered up, tablet per-
haps being inserted, giving the name of
the occupant. Whenever the payment
of the rent ceases, the mouth of the
tomb is broken open, the body removed
and the grave is again to let
4 mn
| The common people are not able to 90
to this expense, are buried in trenches.
The same ground is used over and over
again, quicklime being often added to
hasten the work of decomposition, and
in case of epidemic when this is too slow.
the bodies are burned. In the corners
of cemeteries are large piles of the larger
gether, while the ground is full of the
smaller ones of the hands, feet. the Jaws
and teeth The trenches are shallow.
| and the coffins are scarcely covered from
view. Many of the poorer people are
not buried in collins, but one is hired for
the occasion, and on arriving at the
trench the marrow house, is emptied of
its contents and carried back. The re-
lations never follow the remains to the
last resting place, and women never upon
any occasion go into the cemeteries. We
do not know as we can give an idea of
their manner of burying their dead by
describing the ceremony as it came under
our observation. Early in the year 1866,
Scotchman, who was the proprietor of
an American hotel in Matanzas-all Eng
lish speaking people were considered
Americans-lost an infant daughter, and
on the day of the funeral the boarders
of the house took volantes and rode to
| the cemetery. Matanzas is in the form
of semi-circle around the head of
bay of the same name, and the rise of
the land as it recedes from the water
gives it the appearance of an amphithea-
ter. On the southeasterly side the city
and It's environs are divided by the de-
clivitorls banks of the San Juan, while
westerly, the Yumurri cuts the hills with
the abruptness of a canyon. The ceme-
terry is on the rising land on the southern
side of the city, and from which fine
view of the bay with its shipping, and
of the city, ornamented with the tall
plume-hke palm trees. Slowly the horses
wendell the way up to the iron gateway,
when the party alighted and taking the
tiny coffin, which was neatly covered
with white linen with a blue border, en-
ter the enclosure. The officer in charge
was met, to whom was given the legal
document granting permission that the
body might be buried in consecrated
grounds. The procession passed along
to the trench, every football being among
the small bones of what once has been
humanity, and which were shuffled about
like pebbles Arriving at the trench
another mournfrl cortege was seen APP
preaching, and the officer stopped the
proceedings until their arrival, that the
work might be done in one job. The
coffin was placed upon the ground, and
those of the party cut and slashed the
linen covering with their knives, declar-
! ing that the robbers and thieves should
make as little as possible out of that
Presently the other procession arrived,
and placing their coffin which was also
covered with white linen, upon the
ground, proceeded to open it. The en-
tire lid opened full length, like the cover
of trunk, disclosing beautiful girl,
| ta,, ~, +,ra1,-a x-ao1o old op1 pootIxy 1ra-c-
ed in white. After pulling off her shoes
and taking her earrings and other jewel
ry, they again closed the box and nailed
down the lid The two collins were then
taken by slaves and placed in the trench,
the accompanying friends throwing in
the first handful of earth, several of the
| foreigners throwing in sprigs of acacia.
! The two negroes who were nearly naked,
being clad only in coarse pantaloons,
then jumped into the trench and with
heavy grub hoes commenced the work of
covering the coffins. A human skull was
loosened and rolled into the trench, and
one of the negroes picking it mp, fitted
it in an intersection between the two cof-
fins and stamped it down with his bare
heel. The moment the earth hid them
from view, the work ceased and the la
! borers waited for tie next. During the
night the bodies are exhumed and rob-
bed of whatever they have, and by not
buaying them deep this can be accom-
plished with little difficulty. The Ameri-
can leaves the piece with an indescrible
feeling of relief as the iron gate clangs
on his retreating footsteps 4; but the
CHASTITY and ghoul-like spectacle is ever
indelibly impressed upon his mind; and
the memory of a country as beautiful
and a climate as voluptuoJls as any which
the sun shines upon, can never erase the
scene from his memory.
/ @-
LAST CHANoE.-A man in Massachu-
setts'h had an unreasonable grudge against
his minister, that lasted twenty-five
years. But at last the hand of death