On the death of a Burmese, the body is washed, the two thumbs are tied together, a piece of gold or silver money is put in the mouth, as Kadoakals or ferry toll, and after a day or two placed in a coffin on a bier, which the young men carry.to the burying-ground, halting from time to time to sing and dance, keeping time to the song. The tsaudala or gravediggers place the coffin on the funeral pile. Persons dying of cholera, smallpox, and the young under 15 years of age are buried ; 7 days after the funeral, the leip-bya or soul of the deceased is released from the house by the house Nat.
Karen relatives, after burning the body, collect the bones, and, at an annual festival, the bones of all who have died are carried and interred in a consecrated Ago toung or hill of bones.
In Siam, the poor are buried or exposed to beasts of prey ; if above the lowest class, the deceased, after the bowels have been extracted, is laid in a wooden coffin, externally lacquered and gilt, and this is placed for some days on a high table. In the meantime the priests light up tapers, burn perfumes under the coffin, and chant funeral hymns at night. A procession of relatives and friends dressed in white and covered with white veils follow the corpse. Beside it are borne figures of various animals or singularly-shaped monsters carved out of bamboo, and the accom panying talapoins exclaim, 'We must all die, weare all mortal.' The mourners attest their sorrow by their tears, and often hire women for the express purpose. The body is then taken from the coffin and placed naked on the pile, which is set fire to, and the remains are scorched. The body is then replaced in the coffin and deposited under one of the pyramids erected about the temple. Graves are held sacred among the Siamese, and their violation is considered as 1 heinous offence. They refuse the honour of burning to persons killed by accident, by lightning, to the still-born, to those who die in childbirth or from smallpox, and to suicides. The remains of such are either thrown iuto the water, or exposed to beasts of prey.
With the Chinese, when life has departed, the dead body is arrayed in robes of state, or in most costly apparel ; ablutions arc not performed, nor any unnecessary handling of the body suffered. 1Vhite is the sign of mourning. The Chinese worship the spirits of the dead, and, amongst that nation, the desire to have a good coffin is universal. Many purchase for themselves that last tenement, and keep it by them, and It is usually substantial, of metal or wood. In Burma, where many Chinese are settled, the best block of teak is selected, and the upper portion being sawn off to form a lid, the block is hollowed and ornamented. These may be seen in Moulmein in every carpenter's shop. In China, the coffin-makers' shops have a very gay instead of a lugubrious appearance, as the coffins are usually painted red, or some equally bright colour, and the more expensive ones are decorated profusely with gilding; these coffins are placed on shelves one above the other, and the prices vary from one dollar up to four or five hundred. The funeral customs of China vary in the different districts. In Fo-Kien, the body is placed in a coffin soon after death, a fan is placed in the hand, a piece of silver in the mouth, and an opening is sometimes made in the roof for the spirit to effect its exit. The tombs are on the hillsides, where lucky spots are chosen by geomancers. Paper images of clothes, horses, and other luxuries are cast into the grave, and a sacrifice of cooked provisions is offered on the day of the funeral. Every year, in the month of April, the whole population visit the tombs and worship the manes of ancestors, sacrifice at the tombs of their relatives, weeping near the graves, and .burning fictitious paper money, making offerings of meat, fruit, cakes. Sackcloth is the material for mourn ing.
Most of the Chinese cemeteries have a sacrificial temple, to which are attached extensive suites of rooms for the reception of the coffins of the richer members, pending transmission to their native districts, for Chinamen prize the privilege of being interred near their forefathers. The Chinese coffin is of good wood, and ponderous. The lid is morticed on, and carefully closed, all joints cemented so as to prevent all entrance or exit of air. Only a small aperture is drilled through the lid over the face, so as to allow the entrance or exit of the spirit at its option. Some times a humble family will keep the coffin for many months in their house till able to purchase a tomb, but the very poor are buried en manse within enclosed buildings. The rite of respectful
burial is however so revered, that burial clubs exist in all the large cities. The monumental tombs are small raised truncated cylinders. The tombs of opulent Chinese are decorated with statues of men and horses. They run into excess in mourning for the death of near relations. Every part of the ceremonial is exactly regulated ; even the period, manner, and degree of the mourner's grief being duly prescribed. The corpse being dressed in warm clothes, and deposited in a sub stantial coffin, is kept for several days above ground, whilst the survivors express their measured grief by gesture, dishevelled hair, sackcloth, and mournful silence. When a lucky spot has been selected for the grave, the corpse is consigned to the earth. Building a tomb in the form of a horse shoe, they inscribe thereon the name of the deceased, erect a tablet to his memory in the ball of his ancestors, and repair annually to the grave, in order to prostrate themselves before the manes, and to offer victuals to the spirits. In the temples divine honours are paid to their memory. To suppl: their full wants in the other world, they burl gilt paper, paper chariots and houses, with ever: necessary article of furniture, which are suppose( to be changed in the other world into real utensils whilst the gilt paper, when burnt to ashes, be comes so much ready money. The greater tin personage, the more protracted is the mourning The emperor mourns three years for his parent, an( every good subject follows his august example Mandarins resign their offices during this perioc of affliction, literati avoid entering for the exami nations, and working people abstain for some time from their labour. Chinese sutti prevail& to a considerable extent up to the middle of the 18th century. It does not appear, however, tc have been regarded as a compulsory rite, but we., generally the widow's own choice, to show hei extreme fidelity, or to escape the hardships of widowhood, or, in the case of dutiful sons, to save the life of a parent. Fire was never used, bul opium, poison, or starvation were the means of suicide employed. Yiun Chang was the first emperor who discountenanced those practices, which his immediate predecessors had encouraged ; and he forbade honorary tablets to be erected to self-immolating victims. In 1792 a memorial was presented to the emperor, praying for the dedication of a tablet to a most dutiful son, who had cut out his liver in order to cure his mother's sickness. The Imperial Board of Rites, after mature deliberation, respectfully observed that the practice of cutting out the liver is that of the ignorant, showing a contempt for their lives, and after all but foolish devotion, and a decree was issued discountenancing the custom. The Chinese, like Christians and Mahomedans, plant trees in their cemeteries and around the tombs. The cypress is a favourite with all these religionists, and in northern Europe the yew is much planted.
The Japanese have a great respect for the dead. They place the remains inside a kind of square tube, and in a sitting posture. To obtain this position, they are said to use the Dosio powder, which, placed within the mouth of the corpse, is said to have the effect of relaxing all the muscles. The hollow square is carried in a chair or norimon by four men into the yard of the Tera, escorted by a few women dressed up in bright colours, wearing a veil of white crape on the head. They are here met by the Ochaushan and a number of minor canons, who chant to the sounds of the tom-tom, the whole company awhile moving with the body around the temple, into which they at length rush with a great noise. Prayers are then read over the body, and it is removed to be burned. If the deceased has been a person of rank, the ashes are deposited in an urn, and buried within the sacred precincts of the Tera. In the procession there is very little affectation of sorrow ; they seem to regard it as a joyful occasion, and the whole ends with a feast at the house of the deceased.— Boutell's Manual of British Archeology, London 1868, p. 100 ; Raffles' Hist. of Java, i. p. 327 ; Travels of a Hindu, i. p. 18 ; Edinburgh Phil. Jaunt., July 1867 ; Madden's Sepulchres, i. pp. 368-457 : Picard; The Bible; Homer's Iliad; Baron De Bode's Travels in Luristan, ii. pp. 218, 219 ; Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine, No. 49 ; Tod's Rajasthan, i.- p. 47 ; Dr. Caldwell's CoMparaiive Grammar ; The Koran ; Madre Journal of Literature and Science ; Timkowskils I Journey to Pekin, ii. p. 212 ; Burton's Scinde•; Butler's Travels ; Forbes, 277 ; Rawlinson.