594 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



must first be paid, and the eldest son throws coins into the priest's 

 bowl. After a turn or two more, the call is repeated, the invisible 

 door is opened, and the spirit is supposed to pass in and to mount 

 a lofty platform, from which it takes a final view of the house 

 and village in which it has dwelt. The priests chant its vale- 

 diction, saying : 



" On the last, highest lookout now I stand, 



And gaze toward home, with weeping loud and sore : 

 Those who go farthest on an earthly strand 

 May come again to kin and native land, 

 But he who enters hell returns no more." 



The mourners wail loudly, and the spirit is considered to have 

 departed into the realm of shadows. The party led by the priest 

 now take the short return journey, crossing the mimic bridge but 

 once ; for they say : 



" For going, ages scarce suffice ; 

 The coming back takes but a trice." 



The priest then brings a miniature artificial lotus - garden, on 

 whose terraces are images of the immortals, and sets it whirling 

 on its standard over a basin of clean water. The mourners throw 

 coins into the basin, to secure an abundance of pure water for the 

 use of the deceased in the nether world. Various arts are used by 

 the priest, at this and other stages of the performance, to increase 

 the amount of cash thrown into his basin. 



At nightfall the offerings which supply the dead with the 

 necessaries of spirit-life are sent to him by burning them. Silver 

 and gold coins, clothing of every sort and in many colors, opium 

 and tobacco-pipes, spectacles, wallets, boxes, horses, sedan-chairs, 

 boats, and servants, counterfeited skillfully in paper, and costing 

 hundreds of dollars, are offered by the descendants and friends 

 of the deceased, and are consumed in little bonfires that fill the 

 court-yard with flame, smoke, and ashes. Married daughters 

 bring armfuls of paper clothing and add it to the blaze, kneeling 

 and leaning their heads against a bar from their looms. Neigh- 

 bors and acquaintances bring packages of similar goods, and com- 

 mit them, through the flames, to the care of the deceased, to be 

 transferred by him to their own relatives in the region to which 

 he is going. Some offer real articles, which are spread on tables, 

 with edibles, and these are usually carried away during the night 

 by poor souls still in the flesh. Supplies of paper goods are also 

 burned for the poverty-stricken and friendless dead, who might 

 without this pacification rob the beloved traveler of the things 

 intended for his sole behoof. All night the fires glow, the smoke 

 ascends, the priests chant, and the mourners wail. 



