H 



U 



M 



A 



N 



S 



P 



E 



C 



I 



E 



S. 



561 



he would 



at 



and flrike 



em 



th the fliark 



RELIGION 



fooner is the nolfe 



h 



habitation and 



teeth fixed on his flick. For which reafon, nc 



of the two fliells heard, than every one leaves 



endeavours to obtain fhelter at a diflance, and out of the reach of 



the iliark's teeth : near the corpfe, and the places where men live, 



a kind of fentence or prayer is pronounced. This proceffion is 



performed for about five moons at certain intervals ; which become 



lefs frequent at the end of the interval than at the beginning; each 

 relation takes this proceffion in his turn, and now and then the 

 priefls in company, and at the defire of the relations repeat tlieir 

 prayers near the corpfe and offer to their deities fome offerings of 



r 



fruit or meat, After the ffeih is decayed, the bones are icraped. 



"V 



wafhed, and buried in the marai, if the perfo 



deceafed 



a 



of 



x;hief, but without if he belonged not to that clafs. The fkuU 

 a chief is not buried with the bones, but wrapped in cloth and 



put 



in a long box * which 



the natives call T^c-whar re-no fe- 



4 C 



orometua 



* The method of dlfpofing of the corpfe of the dead nt Taheitee, fecms to be at firft 



■ 



fiaht very ftrange, but upon more mature examination, the fame praftice is found, to 

 iibtam aiTiong many other nations, both antient and modern. When I was in Ruffia 

 ill the fummev of the year 1765. I obferved in the great dcfart to the Eaft of the VaJga, 

 feveral K-h^ilmyks expofed in the fame manner for putrefucStion. J faw one lying de^ 5^ a 

 hut in his cloth ; I found round the hut fcv.cral callico and filk vanes on long flicks fi^ed in 



,thc ground^ on which fevcxal lin^s in Tibetan chara£ters were printed. I met with another 



8 corpfg 



^ 



\ 



