XIV IDEAS OF THE SOUL 49 



near relatives. These tombs are in many cases 

 very elaborately decorated with painted wood- 

 work. 



Since the Klemantans who use the jar to contain 

 the bones are not capable of making such large jars, 

 but procure jars of Indo-Chinese and Chinese 

 manufacture, it seems probable that the jars are 

 comparatively modern substitutes for the smaller 

 wooden coffin or bone-box. Only the richer folk 

 can afford the luxury of a jar. 



A rather different procedure is sometimes 

 adopted by the same Klemantans who use the 

 wooden coffins, namely, the corpse is placed in a jar 

 a few days after death. Since the mouth of the jar 

 is generally too small to admit the corpse the jar is 

 broken horizontally into two parts by the following 

 ingenious procedure. The jar is sunk in the water 

 of the river until it is full of water and wholly sub- 

 merged ; it is held horizontally by two men, one at 

 either end, just beneath the surface of the water. 

 A third man strikes a sharp downward blow with an 

 axe upon the widest circumference of the jar ; it is 

 then turned over and he strikes a second blow upon 

 the same circumference at a spot opposite to the 

 first. At the second stroke the jar falls in two, 

 sometimes as cleanly and nicely broken as though 

 cut with a saw.^ The corpse is then packed in with 

 its knees tied closely under the chin ; the upper 

 part of the jar is replaced and sealed on with wax. 

 When the time of the feast of the bones arrives, the 

 jar is reopened, the bones cleaned, and replaced in 

 the jar. 



This mode of jar burial is commonly practised by 

 the Muruts, and is commoner in the northern parts 

 of the island than elsewhere. It may be added 

 that the jars used are generally valuable old jars, 



Coco-nuts are commonly opened by two blows with a sword struck upon 

 opposite sides, and it seems probable that the method of splitting the jar was 

 suggested by this practice. 



