THE WONDERS OF THE GRAVE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 42, 9 June 1876, Page 2

THE WONDERS OF THE GRAVE.

The tomb of Edward 1., who died in 1308, was opened on January 2, 1770, after 463 years had elapsed. His body was almost perfect. Canute (the Dane), .who crossed over to England in 1017, was found in 1770 by the workmen who repaired Winchester Cathedral) where his body had reposed nearly 750 --years, perfectly fresh. In 1559 three Roman solcliers r fully. equipjDed with warlike instruments, were dug out of a bed of peat in Ireland, where they had probably lain 1,500 years. Their bodies were..perfectly fresh and plump. In the reign of James IE of England after the fall of the church at Estley, in Warwickshire, there was taken lip tlifr body of Thomas Gray, Marquis, of Dorsel,. who was buried there October 10th, 1530, in the twenty-second year of Henry VIII;, and although "it had lain there seventyeight years, the eyes, hair, flesh, nails, and joints, remained as though it had been newly buried. Peter Rodriguez, a Portugese jeweller, whilst pursuing his occupation in the City of Mexico, was in '1595 accused before tk tribunal of the Inquisition, and after suffering a variety of tortures, was condemned to be buried alive in a vault convent de St. Domingo, in that was.tlien thirty-eight years old. The Convent'do St. Domingo was lately demolished in search of treasure supposed to be concealed there, and the body of Rodriguez taken out of the vault, exactly as when placed there 270 years before. His daughter, two and a years of age, was • lying tinder her father's feet, and as perfectly preserved as himself. These lastmentioned bodies are now in the above city. The evidences of torture on the body of the jeweller are fearfully apparent. In one respect, however, the appearance doci not coincide with the record which we have given. The miserable man must have died in the hands of his tormentors, The position of his hands show that lie was suspended by the body and neck until he died. Marks of the cord and burniirg iron are deeply recorded in A r arious parts of the body. His hair and beard are firm, his skin natural in hue and texture, without the slightest trace of decomposition in any part.-