73 ON THE INHABITANTS OF THE 



where the body was placed, with all whom they 

 invite ; where one of the kinsmen having prayed, 

 and thrown away a small portion of the feast, and 

 made a libation in the name of the deceased, the 

 party assembled partake of it, and return. The 

 bodies of most others, dying a natural death, are 

 buried ; and the cause assigned for disposing of the 

 bodies of those who die of the small-pox, as described 

 above, is a superstitious idea, that such an act will 

 avert any further fatality ; whereas, if buried, it 

 will continue to rage, and carry off every inhabitant 

 of the village ; which is reported to have happened 

 formerly. 



When a young man, or virgin, who is marriage- 

 able, dies, the father, or nearest relation, sends a 

 friend to solicit four cubits of ground, to bury the 

 deceased, from the Maungy ; who asks if the relations 

 propose putting the bed-stead into the grave with 

 the body ; in which case a rupee is paid to him for 

 the purchase of a hog. No time is lost in carrying 

 the body to the burying-ground, where a grave of 

 a foot and a half, or two feet deep, being dug north- 

 and south, the head is placed towards the former 

 point ; the bo.iy is covered with pieces of green wood 

 laid across it ; after this some long grass, and then 

 the earth which had been taken out, is thrown over 

 the grass : to conclude, small stones are laid to en- 

 compass the grave, and a few over the middle of the 

 body. No women or girls are allowed to go to fu- 

 nerals, nor are prayers said. On the return of the 



party, 



