590 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



hastily brace himself for the arduous labors that have come upon 

 him through bereavement. 



Messengers go to inform all the kindred of the demise, and an 

 elderly man, of the same surname as the deceased, dressed in sack- 

 cloth and followed by the eldest son, takes a new earthen sauce- 

 pan, goes to a running stream, throws three sheets of spirit-money 

 upon it, and, dipping in the direction of the current, takes water 

 with which to cleanse the corpse. A sprig of bamboo or of ban- 

 yan is inserted in the snout of the saucepan, the bamboo with its 

 straight, evenly jointed stem being the type of paternal rule, and 

 the banyan, with its unfading verdure, being the symbol of ma- 

 ternal affection. While the son is gone to buy the water of puri- 

 fication, the relatives assemble in the house, and, when his return 

 is announced by his moans, they burst out simultaneously into a 

 loud wail, each naming the relationship of the deceased to himself. 

 It is thought that the son may be comforted by this indirect re- 

 minder that his parent had many friends who share the grief of 

 the nearest of kin. The corpse is sprinkled with the water shaken 

 from a branch of pomegranate, the many-seeded emblem of in- 

 crease, and it is then ready for encoffining. Two paper images, 

 one of a man, the other of a maid-servant, are bought and placed 

 beside the body. A son puts some boiled rice in the mouth of the 

 corpse, saying, " You fed me while I grew, I feed you when you 

 are dead," and then commands ih.Q two images to obey the behests 

 of the departed and to run on all errands as directed by him. The 

 images stand rigid before any number of prostrations made by the 

 mourners, but are blown down by a breath of wind. They per- 

 haps inspire the general feeling of superstitious aversion against 

 being fanned by another, and originate the common polite in- 

 hibition, " I would receive a hundred obeisances from you sooner 

 than one puff of air from your fan." 



The male relatives then go in a body to the temple of the local 

 tutelary deity, and announce the death. They carry lighted lan- 

 terns, because the daytime of men is the night of gods and spirits. 

 The bell is tolled, the eldest son prostrates himself before the 

 shrine as many times as will correctly indicate the years of the 

 departed, and gives the sad information of his decease. They then 

 return to the house of mourning, and some one goes to a sooth- 

 sayer to ascertain what time will be lucky for the encoffining of 

 the corpse. The natal dates, recorded for every member of the 

 family, must be laid before the soothsayer, and some moment must 

 be chosen whose signs are geomantically in accord with those of 

 the birthdays and hours of the living, else evil will accrue to any 

 whose horoscope conflicts. To lay the dead in the coffin without 

 regard to the birth-times of those who assist would endanger life 

 needlessly. Some propitious hour during the first, second, or third 



