Note 14 — Letters from Father Mateo Gisbert to the Reverend Fathers and Brothers of Veruela

When the sickness is severe, the imam performs the magtaual, by sprinkling a little water on the sick person, and reciting some prayers to their false prophet. They clothe the deceased in a white garment which covers them from top to toe. Those who are present or who visit the deceased, are invited to a feast. The grave that is made is deep or shallow according to the rank of the person who is to be buried, but it is always one and one-half or two varas deep, and in the shape of a crescent. In one side of it they open a kind of cave, where the body is to be buried. Once the body is deposited there, they set upright stakes in the cave and then make a platform over the hole while two persons scare away the flies with a white cloth so that they may not come near. At the ends of the grave they place a tabo14 of water and food. The imam comes, recites some Mahometan prayers, approaches the dish of food which they have placed there for him, and there at the very grave, he stuffs himself with dexterity, and retires. At the termination of that gastronomic operation, the death-guards (or tunguquibul) who watch the dead for the space of a few days and nights, enter. This is done by various families in turn, according to the wealth or property of the family of the deceased, for they are paid in food and cloth whenever they stand guard. When the deceased, or rather his relatives have nothing more with which to recompense them, the guards cease to watch the dead.