CH. XI CUSTOMS OF THE MINAHAS8EBS 297 



lamentations. If they are fortunate enough to possess 

 a cannon, a shot is fired to announce to the gods the death 

 of their companion. 



Soon after the death has been announced the body is 

 prepared for burial. The corpse is placed in a sitting 

 position with the arms crossed over the breast, with the 

 knees drawn close up to the chin, and then it is wrapped 

 and bound up with linen. The hair is commonly cut off, 

 perhaps with the object of facilitating the escape of the life 

 spirit. The body is, in many places, brought down to the 

 ground not by the front door and ladder, but by a special 

 hole made in the floor, which is immediately afterwards 

 boarded up again. When the hour of burial comes, in the 

 case of a woman, the widower is led to the corpse by an old 

 woman, who throws a cloth over his head. He then takes 

 leave of his wife, and as a farewell offering places a betel 

 nut in her mouth, and is led away to an apartment in his 

 house where he has to remain five, seven, nine, or eleven 

 days (101). In other districts the widower sits and weeps 

 under his house with his feet in a bowl of riee (22). Then 

 come the walians and drive away the departed spirit by 

 swinging a sword about in the air, after which the body is, 

 amid continuous lamentations, placed on a bier and carried 

 to the grave. On the bier and in front of the corpse sits a 

 maiden who constantly tinkles some little bells she holds in 

 her hands, and behind there follows a crowd of women 

 lamenting the deceased. The nearest blood relatices do 

 not follow the body to the grave, they always remain away. 

 The bier is carried three times round the house, and then 

 to the grave. The grave varies considerably in different 

 parts of the country, but is usually of stone or cement, and 

 stands some four or five feet high, with a roof-shaped 

 covering of the same material. There is not a separate 

 tomb for each individual, one being considered sufficient 



