256 CHINESE SEPULTUEE. ' [1697. 



who iuliabit a j^art of Ireland, and make much the same 

 Complaints on these Occasions. 'Tis thus the Body is 

 carry'd to the destin'd place of Sepulchre/ which is very near 

 half a League from Batavia. They bury some pieces of 

 Silver with the Corps, and every day for a year together 

 carry some Viands, and present them at the Tomb of the 

 Deceas'd, with design to do honour and good to him. It 

 would be dangerous to taste these Viands, since oftentimes 

 they poyson tliem, in order to revenge the Attempt of such 

 as should presume to carry them away.- Unriddle who will 

 the Notions of these poor Wretches, who treat their dearest 

 Friends with the same Poyson they prepare for Thieves. 



pleasant? In what Country he thinks he shall find better Entertain- 

 ment. If he had not a good and a handsome Wife, fine Children, good 

 Relations, good Cows, good Milk, good Butter, and every Thing that 

 could make Life agreeable to him? Then they apostrophize his Soul, 

 which they call cruel and ungrateful for leaving so handsome a Body 

 that has charitably found it such a good Lodging for so many Years. 

 . . . ." (]\Iax Misson's Memoirs ; Ozell's translation, op. cit.) 



Compare Dubois (1674), Relation deV hie Dauphine^ etc. Of the Cape- 

 Verdrain he writes (pp. 23, 24) : " Quand il meurt quelqu'un d'eux qui 

 a de quoy, ils vont pleurer le mort, & luy demandent pourquoy il les 

 a quittez, & s'il luy manquoit quelque chose, luy font une infinite 

 d'autres discours pareils." (See also Histoire des Antilles, p. 512.) 



1 " The Chinese allot a separate sepulchre for each corpse, over which 

 is raised a high circular mound of earth, like a crescent, cased with 

 stone, and ornamented according to the wealth and importance of tlie 

 deceased. To these receptacles of the dust of their ancestors the 

 Chinese pay, as a sacred duty, an annual visit, which mournful ceremony 

 takes place in the month of April. Stages are then erected in various 

 parts for the priests, who deliver from them orations in praise of the 

 dead there deposited ; and the neighbourhood of ancient Jacatra, over 

 which their principal cemetery extends, exhibits an affecting spectacle, 

 of multitudes of people, prostrate before the numerous tombs, which 

 are decorated with flowers, spreading viands and fruits as an offering, 

 and bowing their heads in sorrow to the ground." (Thorn, I. c, p. 246.) 



2 Stavorinus writes (vol. i, p. 272) : — " They visit the graves of 

 their ancestors and relations from time to time. They strew them 

 with odoriferous flowers ; and when they depart, they leave a few 

 small pieces of silk or linen, before the entrance, and sometimes boiled 

 rice, or other victuals; which is speedily made away with at niglit." 



