Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1888-10-10
a WAKE IN HONDURAS.
simple-NIinded People who Have Not The
Least Fear OF Death. /

a WAKE IN I'LL ON punAS. ###
simple Minded People who Have Not the
Least Fear OF Death.
1t was in British Honduras that I
first attended q vclorio, or the ceremony
of watching with corpse. The family,
home consisted Of q single long or mars,
row apartment, rounded at each end,
with earthen floor, and roof thatohed
with guano leaves. From the cross
poles hung few hammocks, and in the
middle of the room, upon rude bier
made of two boards upheld by casks,
lay the dead woman, with wee infant
clasped in her arms. The face OF the
mother, who could not have been more
than fourteen years old, was calm and
peaceful, but that of the baby was
strangely distorted, as if terrified with
its brief look on life. Fresh flowers
we're scattered upon the scarlet blanket
that partially covered the still figures;
lighted candles stood at the head and
foot, and near by sat the sisters and
parents of the dead woman. silent and
sad. Inquiring why the husband and
father was not among the mourners, l
was carelessly informed, as though it
were nothing to cause remark, that Ia
probraerta (the poor, dear girl) had
never been welded; and as for the
father-quien sabe?
A great crowd occupied the house of
mourning. laughing and jesting as
fhnNOrh tho -
joioing, rather than sorrow. Many
were playing cards, outside under a
pomegranate tree refreshments were
spread, and music and uproar re-
sounded in startling incongruity with
the dread mystery of death.
The ceremony of el velorio is always
observed where there is a death in the
family and is intended to keep up tho
spirits of the relatives and prevent
their thoughts from dwelling on the
sad side of the occasion. We are told
that considerable difference is made
between the velo,jo of a grown person
and that a child, because the latter be-
ing without sin is sure to go straight
to eternal happiness, and therefore its
demise is properly a subject of rejoice
ing. With adults it is not so certain
where the soul may have been sent to
do penance for the deeds of the body,
and so at this velorto there is less mer-
riment and more card-playing, the OBJ
ject being merely to amuse the
mourners, since the dead are indiffer-
ent to smiles or tears.
With these simple-minded folk death
is looked upon without fear or terror,
as one of the common accidents of life.
With laugh upon his lips the Indian
lies down to die, remarking cheerfully
coy desca'ssas, II am going to rest"
Their superstitions are singularly
materialistic. They believe that their
sinful soul reaches hell (lMictla,s) after
a long and painful journey. A deep,
dark river intervenes, and to cross it
the aid of a yellow dog is necessary,
with a string tied around his neck,
which is held by the corpse. Any dog
but a yellow dog would not do at all; q
black one would say, 81 have been
stained white one, II have been
washed,' and neither could find the
only fordable place in the river. There
fore, yellow dogs are reared for that
especial purpose-which may account
for the host of ours in and around Santo
Toribiro.
In crossing this Styx the poor corpse
loses all his clothes, after which the
dog leads him, naked, between two
lofty mountains that are constantly
clashing together; then over another,
which is covered with stones sharp as
needles: then over eight hills, upon
which sleet cuts the flesh like knives,
and on through eight deserts, where
the sands are hot as burning Goals.
After all this he is led through a path
where poisoned arrows are continually
flying and, worst of all, fierce tigers
come and eat out his heart, and he falls
into foaming lagoon filled with liz.
ards. How he gets out of it is not ex-
planned; but at length he appears be-
fore the King of Mictlan, when his
journey is ended and his identity lost
forever ~
Another superstition is that of the
heavenly milk tree, for dead infants,
which grows in a mansion called Chi
huacuahio. From it's twigs milk is con-
stantly oozing' and it is believed that
babies thus nourished will return to
earth after thousands OF years, to popu-
late the world anew when the present
races shall have passed away.-Phila-
delptiG Record.
VENOMOUS SNAKES.
Those Most Frequently Encountered by
Travellers in India.
'King COBRA the largest poisonous
snake known sometimes maas1lres oven