<Dl> <Dt> Aureliano </Dt> </Dl> <P> Aureliano is the child of Aureliano and his aunt, Amaranta Úrsula . He is born with a pig's tail, as the eldest and long dead Úrsula had always feared would happen (the parents of the child had never heard of the omen). His mother dies after giving birth to him, and, due to his grief - stricken father's negligence, he is devoured by ants . </P> <Dl> <Dt> Melquíades </Dt> </Dl> <P> Melquíades is one of a band of gypsies who visit Macondo every year in March, displaying amazing items from around the world . Melquíades sells José Arcadio Buendía several new inventions including a pair of magnets and an alchemist's lab . Later, the gypsies report that Melquíades died in Singapore, but he, nonetheless, returns to live with the Buendía family, stating he could not bear the solitude of death . He stays with the Buendías and begins to write the mysterious parchments, which are eventually translated by Aureliano Babilonia, and prophesy the House of Buendia's end . Melquíades dies a second time from drowning in the river near Macondo and, following a grand ceremony organized by the Buendías, is the first individual buried in Macondo . His name echoes Melchizedek in the Old Testament, whose source of authority as a high priest was mysterious . </P>

When does 100 years of solitude take place