436 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



ment ; or in some districts it is placed on a bier in a little 

 hut prepared for it near the. dwellin"^ of the nearest relative. 

 If a son die before his father's remains have been committed 

 to the ground, the primary and imperative duty of burial de- 

 volves on his heir with his other oblii:ations. The knowledge 

 of "who is who" amon2: tlie various danjflini!: remnants of 

 humanity is handed down from each inheritor to each suc- 

 ceeding "heir of the obligation ; when at last sufficient buffaloes, 

 pigs, goats, Indian corn, rice, and kanipa for a feast in accord- 

 ance with the rank of the deceased have been amassed, the 

 body, in such condition as it happens to be, is laid, attired and 

 ornamented in its best garments and finery, in a short wooden 

 coffin dug out of a block of wood, along with the various gifts 

 which the relatives had perhaps decades before bestowed on 

 it, and the whole, wrajiped in a " patola," or ornamented cere- 

 cloth, is committed to the c'rave amid the firing- of ouns and 

 the wailing of women. 



From the time the funeral company arrives, which is 

 generally many days before that actually appointed for the 

 interment, buffidoes and horses, sheep and pigs are ruthlessly 

 butchered to satisfy the insatiable appetites of these savages, 

 who devour it half-cooked, and whose drink throughout the 

 whole period of the ceremonies is confined to the strongest 

 and coarsest arrack. Under the influence of this stimulant 



1 — 



the women starting up, and falling into a ring, eacli beating 

 a round drum, commence to dance, going round and round in 

 a circle, at first slowly, then by degrees faster and foster, till 

 they become thoroughly excited. Shouting and bawling out 

 unintelligible words or sentences, they constantly increase the 

 pace of their prance and the din of their voices, till the men 

 at last becoming excited also, dress themselves in their war 

 feathers and accoutrements, and brandishing their swords, join 

 in the drunken and demoniacal scene, which continues to 

 increase in fury till the wearied-out frames of the performers 

 sink through utter exhaustion, which it often requires, so mad 

 is their frenzy, a whole circuit of the sun to produce. In sucli 

 a scene the Timorese appear as pure savages. 



When these orgies at last come to a close, the skulls and 

 cheekbones of the slain herds are strewn over the ground 

 among the stones heaped upon it at the time of burial ; or in 



