Away from the cities, where pride or custom holds sway, a death is little more than a signal for a crowd to assemble at the home of the deceased for a drunken spree. In case of death the interest and sympathy manifested by friends and neighbors depends upon the amount of money forthcoming for the purchase of chicha. Should there be liberal provisions for this important feature of the funeral service a large attendance is assured. Should the death be that of a baby it is generally understood that there is to be a grand feast. The dead infant, robed in white and bedecked with flowers, is placed in a sitting position upon an improvised altar, where, surrounded with burning candles it remains for twenty-four hours. During this time there is much drinking and singing by those who assemble to mourn the death of the child. Usually on the day following the death, the body is wrapped in a cloth and placed in a candle or soap box, which serves as a coffin, and carried to the cemetery. The procession is accompanied by women who sing, and add to their vocal efforts the music of guitars. The crowd often stops en route to the cemetery to drink and indulge in demonstrations. Women never accompany the funeral procession of an adult. There are never any preparations in advance for a burial, and the interment is made in the crudest possible manner. The pall-bearers carry with them a crowbar and shovel, and the corpse waits while the grave is being prepared after arrival at the cemetery. Graves are dug anywhere those preparing them may choose, not infrequently in the same place where other burials have been made, and if human bones are encountered in the excavation they are thrown aside as so many stones. After the corpse is laid to rest, perhaps to the great disturbance of another previously buried in the same spot, the crowd departs to some place where more liquor can be secured, and where the final celebration of the event takes place. Should a poor man die, leaving no money with which to provide the customary drinks at his funeral, and having no friends who will perform that very necessary service for him, the manner of his burial is something like that accorded to animals. The method of conveying the bodies of these unfortunates to their last resting place, in many instances is not unlike that of taking a sack of potatoes to market. The corpse is tied upon the back of a mule, and with head nodding, hands and feet waving in the air, as if in mute protest against the custom of administering the last rites of the poor, they are conveyed to the cemetery by someone to whom the disagreeable duty is delegated. A hole large enough to receive the body is dug in some obscure corner of the cemetery, and without a coffin, without ceremony or service of any kind, the unfortunate is committed to earth, which receives him back to its bosom, as it does all those who inhabit it for a brief period.