The whole company passed the night on the spot, having lit a great many fires and boiled kettles. We retired to the old village with the intention of returning the next day at daylight when they were to cast the bones into the grave; but we barely arrived in time, notwithstanding all the diligence we employed, on account of an accident which happened. One of the skeletons, which was not well fastened, or perhaps was too heavy for the cord which held it, fell of itself into the grave. The noise it made awoke the whole troupe, who ran and immediately mounted, in a crowd, to the platform and emptied, without order, all the bundles into the grave, reserving, however, the robes in which they had been wrapped. We were just leaving the village at that time, but the noise was so great that it seemed almost as though we were there. Approaching we saw suddenly an image of the infernal regions. This great space was filled with fire and smoke and the air resounded on all sides with the mingled voices of the savages. This noise, nevertheless, ceased for a while, and was changed to singing, but in a tone so doleful and weird that it represented to us the terrible sadness and the depth of despair in which condemned souls are forever plunged. Nearly all the bones had been cast in when we arrived, for it was done almost in a moment, each one being in haste for fear that there was not room for all these skeletons; nevertheless we saw enough of it to judge of the rest. There were five or six men in the grave, with poles, to arrange the bones. It was filled up within 2 feet of the top with bones, after which they turned over upon them the robes that bordered the grave all around, and covered the whole with mats and bark. The pit was then filled up with sand, rods, and stakes of wood which were thrown in promiscuously. Some of the women brought dishes of corn, and on the same day and the following days several cabins of the village furnished basketfuls of it, which were cast into the pit. We have fifteen or twenty Christians buried with these infidels. We say a _De profundis_ for their souls, with the firm hope that if the Divine goodness does not cease His blessings on His people this feast will be made no more, or will be only for Christians, and will be celebrated with rites as holy as these are foolish and useless. They also begin to be a burden upon the people for the excess and superfluous expenses that are caused by them.