12 PEOCEEDINGS OP THE NATIONAIi MUSEUM TOL. 80 



and that in form of construction and nature of contents the two are 

 alike. 



While Chinese inscriptions are rare in the caves of Szechwan, 

 there are Chinese characters in one cave recording the joint owner- 

 ship by two Chinese, and in another giving the date of the cave as 

 103 A. D.® Moreover, Han dynasty coins are found in previously 

 undisturbed cavesJ The above facts indicate that the caves can 

 not possibly antedate the Chinese. 



The burial customs of the Chinese have had a long history and 

 evolution. In the earliest times men and women were killed and 

 buried with their dead leaders so that their souls might accompany 

 those of the deceased and serve them in the land of shades. The 

 history of the Cheo dynasty (B, C. 1122-255) gives several instances 

 when the living were buried with the dead, a custom probably con- 

 fined to the upper strata of society. We note in this history (ninth 

 book, sec. 33, p. 4) that when the emperor, Ch'i Huang Gong, was 

 buried, his two wives and many others in the palace were interred 

 with him, a total of several hundred people. Again, in an account 

 of the death of Chin Muh Gong (twelfth book, sec, 47, p, 16), it 

 states that 177 people, in addition to three high officials, were buried 

 -with him and that the populace sorrowed because of the death of 

 these three nobles. A third instance (fourteenth book, ch. 55, p. 19) 

 tells of an official who ordered that his favorite wife should be killed 

 and buried with him, but whose sons refused to carry out his instruc- 

 tions. In book 18 (ch. 70, p. 12) we read of an emperor who took 

 refuge in the home of a farmer after being defeated in a revolution. 

 The farmer, with traditional hospitality, presented his two daugh- 

 ters as wives for the Emperor. But even this magnanimous gesture 

 did not conquer his melancholy. When he hanged himself shortly 

 thereafter the two women were killed and buried with him. 



Farther on in the history (nineteenth book, sec. 75, pp. 19-20) we 

 read the sad story of King Wu, who had a daughter whom he 

 loved dearly. As evidence of his deep affection, it was his custom 

 to divide any good food he had, sending half to his daughter. She 

 misunderstood this, thinking he was esteeming her lightly and giv- 

 ing her only the remnants from his table. Humiliated, she com- 

 mitted suicide. In preparing for her burial, the King ordered the 

 construction of an artificial pond in the center of which, on a little 

 island, he placed the grave, surrounded by a wall. A tunnel led 

 from the mainland, under water, to the grave. People gathered out 

 of curiosity to witness the funeral, and when some of them went 



° Journal, North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 41, pp. 68-69, 

 Shanghai, 1910. 

 » Ibid., p. 69. 



