_Mardi 31st._
... Holy Saturday morning;--nine o'clock. All the bells suddenly ring
out; the humming of the bourdon blends with the thunder of a hundred
guns: this is the _Gloria!_... At this signal it is a religious custom
for the whole coast-population to enter the sea, and for those living
too far from the beach to bathe in the rivers. But rivers and sea are
now alike infected;--all the linen of the lazarettos has been washed
therein; and to-day there are fewer bathers than usual.
But there are twenty-seven burials. Now they are burying the dead two
together: the cemeteries are overburdened....