MISCELLANIES. 



583 



one of those circumstances, which 

 have been thoiiglit worthy of pe- 

 culiar notice, by all who have 

 studied the history of man, as it 

 is in most instances connected 

 with the idea wliich they entertain 

 respecting a futiu'e state. 



Those nations who believe in 

 the doctrine of the resurrection, 

 practise inhumation. The Hindus 

 and other nations, who believe the 

 doctrine of the metempsychosis, 

 and consider fire as the element 

 which pui'ifies all things, usually 

 burn their dead, with a variety of 

 ceremonies suited to those reli- 

 gious notions which are peculiar 

 to the different sects. The inha- 

 bitants of Thibet, differing from 

 most other nations, either totally 

 neglect the bodies of their dead, 

 or treat them in a manner which 

 to us appears highly barbarous. 



The Burmans burn their dead 

 like the Hindus, though with a 

 great difference in the method and 

 tlie attendant ceremonies. With 

 them,the wood of the coffin (which 

 is made idrger and stronger than 

 with us) is nearly all the fuel used 

 to consume the bodies of the 

 common people. The Priests, or 

 Poongees, are like them burnt by 

 the wood of their own coffins, but 

 the fire is communicated by means 

 of rockets. As this is a very sin- 

 gular practice, and has not been 

 noticed by any writer whom I have 

 met with, I take the liberty to 

 communicate to the Asiatic Society 

 the following account of the fu- 

 neral ceremonies of a Poongee or 

 Burman priest, as commuricated 

 by my sou, Mr. Feli.v Carey, who 

 resides at Rangoon, and was an 

 eye-witness thereto. 



" The man whose funeral cere- 

 monies I am going to describe. 



died about two yeai'S ago. After 

 the death of a Poongee, the body 

 is embalmed in the following 

 manner. First, the intestines are 

 taken out, after which the body is 

 filled with spices of different kinds, 

 and the opening sewed up. A 

 layer of wa.v is then laid all over 

 the body, so as to prevent the ad- 

 mission of air ; upon that is put 

 a layer composed of lac and some 

 other ingredients, and the whole 

 covered over with leaf-gold. The 

 body of this person was stretched 

 out at full length, with the arms 

 laid over the breast. When one 

 of these people dies, the body is 

 thus prepared at the house where 

 he died. After about 12 months, 

 the corpse is removed to a house 

 built for that purpose, where it 

 is kept a year or two longer, till 

 the Poongees order it to be burnt. 

 At one of these places I saw the 

 body of this man, about a month 

 before it was taken out for the 

 purpose of being destroyed. It 

 was then placed upon a stage, 

 which was in a house made like 

 one of their Kuims, rising in a 

 conical form, ard about thirty feet 

 in height. The stage was made 

 of bamboos and wood, and the 

 house which contained it was co- 

 vered with paper, and overlaid 

 with leaf-gold. By the side of 

 this stage lay the coffin in which 

 the body was to be carried out ; 

 this, also, was overlaid witli gold, 

 and ornamented with several 

 figures, designed to represent death 

 in a variety of forms. In the court 

 yard two large four-wheeled car- 

 riages were preparing, one to 

 carry the coffin, and the other the 

 stage with its ajjparatus. The 

 carriage in whicli the corpse was 

 to be drawn had another stage 



built 



