company, including the
elderly ladies, are indulging in that luxury. Occasionally a tray of
cigars is handed round together with coffee, chocolate, sweetmeats, and
biscuits. I note that these convivialities are only interrupted when a
visitor is announced. That upon these occasions the mourners are
inspired to give loud expression to their grief. That the women shriek,
rave, and occasionally vary their proceedings by swooning and going into
hysterics. I observe that the new arrival is seized and surrounded as I
had been and conducted into the chamber of death, where some of the
mourners give vent to their sorrow by clasping the clerical-looking
clothes or embracing the borrowed boots. I find that among the lady
mourners the most demonstrative is Dona Dolores, who is said to be the
nearest surviving relative of the departed; though from the language
which she occasionally utters it is not clear to me what kind of
relationship she claims.

Whenever a new mourner appears, Dona Dolores, who has been hitherto
silently seated behind me, springs to her feet and in the following
terms apostrophises the dead:

'Oh! Pancho. My little dear! (the defunct was a middle-aged gentleman).
Answer me, my love. Where are you, my brother? Ah! it's all over with
you now, Panchito. To-morrow you will be quite alone, with nobody to
speak to you. Oh! my Panchito--my love--my life--my entranos! Pancho of
my heart; of my soul! My brother--my son--my love--my father; for thou
hast been more than father, lover, son, and brother to me!'

After a short pause the lady breaks out afresh:

'Virgen Santisima! Virgen de la Caridad! Where is my poor Panchito? What
have you done with him? Where are you, Pancho? Answer me, my love! Maria
Santisima; look at my poor brother all alone without the power to speak
or rise! Make him answer me! Oh! my dear companion--my cousin--my
godfather--mi compadre--my parent--my friend; speak! Tell me where you
are! Come to me, my Pancho; my Panchito. Oh! Pancho--Pan-cho!
Pa-n-n-cho!!'

Once, in the middle of the lady's eloquence, the late Don Pancho
startles everybody (myself included) by opening his mouth and drooping
his head!

In order to facilitate my operations, the body had been propped up in a
sitting posture, but by some mishap the props had given way. Until the
real cause of the displacement is made manifest, Dona Dolores is beside
herself with joy. Her Pancho has been restored to life! Her beloved
'stepfathe