28 Burial rites among the Karens. [No. 1, 
Before the burial, an elder opens the hand of the dead man and 
puts into a bangle or some other bit of metal, and then cuts off a few 
particles with a sword, saying: ‘‘ May we live to be as old as thou 
art.”” Hach one in the company goes through the same ceremonials, 
and the fragments gathered are looked upon as charms to prolong life. 
When about to bury the corpse, two candles made of bees-wax are 
lighted, and two swords are brought. A sword and a candle is taken 
by the eldest son, and a sword and a candle by the youngest ; and they 
march round the bier in opposite directions three times, each time 
they meet exchanging swords and candles. After completing the 
circuits, one candle is placed at the foot of the coffin, and the other at 
the head. 
A fowl or a hog is ted three times round the building in which the 
body is placed, and on completing the first round, it is struck with a 
strip of bamboo once; on completing the second round twice; and at 
the third round it is killed. Ifa fowl, it is killed by twisting its 
head off. The meat is set before the body as food. 
Young people are buried in a similar manner, but with some 
abridgement of the forms. 
When the day of burial arrives, and the body is carried to the 
grave, four bamboo splints are taken, and one is thrown towards the 
west, saying : ‘‘ That is the east.”” Another is thrown to the east, 
saying: ‘“‘ That is the west.” <A third is thrown upwards towards the 
top of the tree, saying: ‘‘ That is the foot of the tree; ” and a fourth 
is thrown downwards, saying: ‘“‘ Phat is the top of the tree.” The 
sources of the stream are then pointed to, saying: “ That is the mouth 
’ and the mouth of the stream is pointed to, saying : 
of the stream ;’ 
“That is the head of the stream.” ‘This is done, because in Hades 
everything is upside down in relation to the things of this world. 
The body is then buried, and the grave filled in without further 
ceremony, and when the top of the grave has been neatly smoothed 
off, a little fence of trellis work is built around it. Within this fence, 
boiled rice and other food is placed for the dead. 
On returning from the grave, each person provides himself with 
three little hooks made of branches of trees, and calling his spirit to 
follow him, at short intervals, as he returns, he makes a motion as if 
hooking it, and then thrusts the hook inte the ground. This z done 
