"We went to one of the cemeteries," said Frank, "and happened to arrive at the entrance chapel just as a funeral was going on. The coffin was so shallow that the body lying within it was distinctly visible above the sides as it stood on a stand resembling a sarcophagus; the lid is shaped like the roof of a house, and is made of two sloping boards meeting and forming a ridge. The Catholic service for the dead was performed, and then a procession of priests and mourners formed, and the coffin was borne from the chapel to the cemetery. [Illustration: COFFIN OPENED.] "This was an enclosure with four thick walls, in which there were niches for the coffins, in the same manner as in a receiving tomb at Greenwood or Mount Auburn. The coffin was placed on a stand near one of the niches, the cover was opened, a handkerchief was spread over the face of the corpse, and one of the priests sprinkled the body with holy water, and threw a scoopful of quicklime upon it. [Illustration: CEMETERY OF THE PAULA CHURCH.] "The other priests and the friends of the deceased followed his example one by one, the sprinkler and scoop being passed to them by a sacristan. The lime was thus heaped on until there was at least a bushel of it, completely concealing the body; the coffin was slid into its niche; the door was closed and locked, the key was delivered to one of the friends of the deceased, and then the attendants proceeded to close the space in front of the door with brick and plaster. Orations were pronounced by those who chose to speak, and the ceremonies were over. "We were told that the bodies do not decay, in the ordinary acceptation of the word. The flesh is consumed by the quicklime; at the end of two years the niche is opened, the bones are removed and placed in a funeral vase, and the niche is then ready for another tenant. No names are placed above the niches, but each one is numbered, and a reference to the register of the cemetery will show by whom and for how long a particular place is occupied. Fees are exacted for the funeral services and the rent of the niches; in fact, there is hardly anything in life or death in Brazil in which the Church does not have a place. Christenings, baptisms, marriages, death, and burials are all within its supervision." [Illustration: VIEW OF RIO FROM BOA VISTA.] Rio de Janeiro has beautiful surroundings, and there is no prettier spot among them than Tijuca, a favorite resort of the residents who seek to escape the heat of the city. Other retreats are Petropolis, Boa Vista, Constantia, Nova Friborga, and Teresopolis, all of them at elevations of from one to three thousand feet above the water front of the city. Boa Vista offers a fine view of Rio as it nestles on the shore of the bay; all these resorts are reached by carriage-roads, and some by railway, and in whatever way the journey is made it is sure to be enjoyed.