164 OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
ANNAMESE ANCES TRAE WORSHIP: 
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With a race devoted to ancestral worship, as the Anna-. 
mese are, funerals are necessarily a very solemn matter, con- 
ducted with a minute regard for traditional rites, imperative 
for the future welfare of the deceased. The first thing to be 
done .is to assure one’s self that the person is really dead. A 
film of cotton is suspended before the nostrils by a silken 
thread, so that the faintest breath would make it move. Death 
being verified, the face is covered with three sheets of paper, 
and over these is placed a red cloth, of silk or cottcen, accord- 
ing tothe family’s wealth. One of the commonest forms of 
abuse in the country is to pray that your enemy may have no 
one at his death to perform this service for him. The object 
is of course to prevent evil spirits from entering and carrymg 
off the dead man’s spirit. For the same reason a constant 
guard is kept by the body, to prevent:a cat from passing over 
it. Cats are particularly hateful to disembodied spirits. 
Three grains of rice are then put into the corpse’s mouth, 
and if any teeth have been lost they are replaced. The old are 
particularly careful to preserve whatever teeth may drop out, 
for this purpose, and lock them up with their most valued 
treasures. ‘There is a special reason for this care. Teeth are 
oiten employed for making medicines, and the sorcerers who 
wander about the country always have a number in their wal- 
lets, and are not at all scrupulous about how they increase the 
store. Instead of the three grains of rice, wealthy families 
sometimes put one or more precious stones in the mouth. The 
resemblance to the Greek obclos to pay the Stygian ferry need 
not be urged. , , 
The body is. then laid out, washed with water in which 
flowers or fragrant leaves have been boiled, the hair combed 
and done up inachignon, andg black turban wound round 
the head. The deceased’s finest clothes, very often specially - 
prepared years before for this purpose, are put on, and he is 
decorated with the tokens of whatever rank he may have held. 
The finger nails are cut and placed in a little packet by the 
side of the head. If they grew. into the flesh it would bring 
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