this opportunity of gratefully mentioning the friendly sympathy
and kindness I experienced on the part of this gentleman and his
lady. To return to the gardens,--the most interesting to me was the
botanical, where a number of rare trees and plants flourish famously
in the open air.

The catacombs of the Augustine convent are most peculiar; they are
situate immediately outside the town. From the church, which offers
nothing of remarkable interest, a broad flight of stairs leads
downwards into long and lofty passages cut in the rock, and
receiving light from above. The skeletons of the dead line the
walls, in little niches close beside each other; they are clothed in
a kind of monkish robe, and each man's hands are crossed on his
chest, with a ticket bearing his name, age, and the date of his
death depending therefrom. A more horrible sight can scarcely be
imagined than these dressed-up skeletons and death's-heads. Many
have still hair on the scalp, and some even beard. The niches in
which they stand are surmounted by planks displaying skulls and
bones, and the corridors are crowded with whole rows of coffins,
their inmates waiting for a vacant place. If the relations of one
of the favoured skeletons neglect to supply a certain number of wax-
tapers on All-Saints' day, the poor man is banished from his
position, and one of the candidates steps in and occupies his niche.

The corpses of women and girls are deposited in another compartment,
and look as though they were lying in state in their glass coffins,
dressed in handsome silks, with ornamental coifs on their heads,
ruffs and lace collars round their necks, and silk shoes and
stockings, which however soon burst, on their feet. A wreath of
flowers decks the brow of each girl, and beneath all this ornament
the skull appears with its hollow eyes--a parody upon life and
death.

Whenever any one wishes to be immortalised in this way, his friends
and relations must pay a certain sum for a place on the day of his
burial, and afterwards bring wax-tapers every year. The body is
then laid in a chamber of lime, which remains for eight months
hermetically closed, until the flesh has been entirely eaten away;
then the bones are fastened together, dressed, and placed in a
niche.

On All-Saints' day these corridors of death are crowded with gazers;
friends and relations of the deceased resort thither to light
candles and perform their devotions. I was glad to have had