Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1882-07-15
How the Dead are Disposed of atPaleruo.

How the Dead are Disposed of atPa!ermo.
There is one curiosity of Palermo about
which hesitate to disturb you, says q CORES
pondent, writing from this Sicilian city. If
you were to see it and let your mind dwell
on II you would not sleep fora week after
ward: OF all the fantastic, ghastly and
sportlve dealings with poor mortality that
l nave seen lnmy short pilgrimage. the con-
vent OF the Canpuccinl furnishes the most
astonishing. In seeing it had new rcve-
lation of the capacities of human nature for
indulgence i'll the horrible and grotesaue.
From the convent we descended into the
subterranean corridors where are exposed.
not buried, the dried remains of the wealthy
inhabitants of Palermo. These corridors. of
which there arc several, arc archcd, well
lighted, and should think each couple of
hundred feet long. The air in them is dry,
ana apparently salubrious and one might
walk through these isles of death in comfort
II he were blind. On each side of these pas
sages are boxes, piled one upon the other
not collins, but boxes, something with brass
nails, and looking not unlike old fashioned
hair trunks You might imagine yourself
in an emigrant baggage room on Il steamer.
but tor some other things in the corridors.
Each of these boxes contains dead person.
The occupants of part of them, which have
glass fronts, are visible. n''.
There they lie grinning in arrested decay,
with just enough skin and flesh on the
bones to oprcscrve the scmblancc of humani-
ty. The poor dessicated bodies have been
| forced into clothes, sometimes into finery,
and many i'll this awful dress parade of death
wear white kid gloves and fine shoes. But
this is not the worst. Above these rows of
boxes hang, in all the limpncss of irrcsponsi-
bllity for appearance which characterizes
the dead, ranks of mummies, hang by the
neck, or attached in some way to the walls
OF the vault. They are pretty uniformly
clad in sombre robes of cotton, and but for
the horrible faces staring ut you might pass
for scarecrows. The drying process has
drawn the faces into all ghastly contortons,
in which one might fancy that the real char
acter of the depated is revealed. Some
scowl, some grin with malevolence THAT is
the worst of all, and some actually assume
Il comical look that forces your unwilling
laughter. Sometimes groups of three or
four incline their dreadful heads to each 9TH
CT rs If enjoying some pOst-mortem humor-
Gus story. His conceit must be infinite who
can walk through these ranks of dried and
distorted dead and not feel hllmiliated by
such exhibition of his kind Is it possible
that we shall all look like that? Must all
beauty and manliness and bravery come to
that?
There are many children, some not a span
long, lying in their little boxes, decked in
all the finery of fond affection, the lace and |
ribbons adding know not what of mockery
to the weasened baby faces One entire
corridor is reserved for the women, and this
is more pathetic than the Others Those who
died virgins have crowns OH their heads, and |
palms of lilies in their hands, They were
great beauties, doubt not, before they came
here, for the dark eyed women of Palermo |
are comely, but maid, or bride, or wife, they
are not beautiful now, although they re-
pose in silk dresses, kid gloves and satin |
slippers. These be dresses for q ball, and
what ball and dance of death is this
Is it any pleasure for my lady to have her |
lover come and see her in this guisc 1? |
/ learned that at death the bodies are inter-
red in a scaled pit in this cemetery for
year. There is supposed to be something
peculiar in the soil which dries the body
without destroying it. At the end of a year
it is taken out, dressed and either put into |
its box or up on the corridor Every year,
at least on All Souls day friends of the de-
parted come to look upon the frightfnl re-
mains. What satisfaction they can have in
ehS SPSSeeASiS Wv hoo hhoW, hol uO ullucI-
stand how any man or woman of presenta-
BILE appearance who has visited these corri-
dors in life, can consent to occupy them af-
ter death. Interment here was prohibited
about year ago. do not know how
long the wealthy people of Palermo have
been exposed here, but we were told, as we
walked along, that 5000 bodies were in
sight.
Kisses