THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD AT NAPLES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume VIII, Issue 138, 21 November 1884, Page 2

THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD AT NAPLES.

The Naples correspondent of the Standard writes : —In ''.'. order to test the accuracy of rumours m circulation respecting i>he manner of the interment of cholera corpses, I succeeded, thvough the courtesy of the directors of the Neapolitan cemeteries, m obtaining full information of the subject. The public is rigorously excluded. The Campo Santo dei Colorosi is situated on the low road to the magnificent Campp 3apto of this city, but a quainter of a niife nearer to Naples. I found a long row of funeral cars waitings at the gates with their loads of plain "deal boxes. Near the entrance police officers were stationed^ and an/old priest;, was seat* ed by, before whom a bier was placed, on which one box after, another was laid, each with a paper attached bearing the name of the deceased and ef the section of the town from which he came. ; After the priest had pronounced the -benediction, each box was -removed to a depot ; but, before being there . shelved, full particulars of each corpse were taken and entered m a book with a number. I The body thus registered remained m the depot for twenty-four hams, and then, if not claimed for separate burial, was conveyed to the common grave, the size of which was according to the number of bodies waiting for burial, and never less than twenty-four feet deep. One by one the boxes were emptied, and the bodies placed m a row with all tho clothes m which they were brought, or with at least a shroud. One row being completed, it wa»w covered with quicklime, and the next row commenced. When the grave was full to withihlseven feet of the surface the whole was covered. '* For 24 hours," said the director, "[ am able to find any corpse applied for, and should be glad to do mom if you or imyone else could suggest a better plan." At night the L dismal work was finished. The empty : bbxes wero made up into a' funeral pile and burned; The glare of this fire is visible on the eastern sky, and by ita intensity and duration it gives some idea of the number of victims during the last, 24 hours.