110 MR. 0. A. SHERRING ON 



of a stone enclosure ( rhapa ) six feet long and three feet wide, filled with wood, 

 spaces being left to give free access of air. The clothes worn by the deceased at the time 

 of death are placed among the faggots, and the corpse having been put on the top with 

 face towards the east by one of the mourners, the bag, or katro, is cut at the face, and a 

 piece of precious metal, such as gold or silver, or even a pearl (akchhya, from ak- 

 mouth and chhya = food) is placed in the mouth, the corpse being supposed to become 

 " sudh," or purified, thereby. Oil is poured over the corpse, and finally branches of the 

 sacred dhupi tree, found in the high hills, are cast on the top, and then the whole is fired. 

 No one remains to watch the cremation, but the mourners almost immediately wash their 

 heads, hands and feet, put their caps on and their head-dress {chuklas) straight and 

 return to the home of the deceased. Here they purify themselves in the smoke of a fire 

 made of dhupi wood and then go to their own homes. 



On the following day a few men and women proceed to the burning-place and pull 

 down the enclosure {rhapd) and wash the place and remove one of the burnt bones. The 

 men doffing their caps and the women turning their head-dress {chuklas) inside out, solemn- 

 ly bear the bone enclosed in an iron, or tin-box to the place (each village has one or 

 more ) of dead men's bones. Here they are met by others, who did not accompany them 

 to the pyre, with parched grain {pic) and sattoo or moistened flour (du) and other things 

 necessary for the coming ceremonial, which is a part of the funeral rites {dhurung) which 

 will subsequently at another time be carried out in full. To screen the spot from the 

 vulgar gaze two curtains are erected on both sides ol the place, the girls hand parched 

 grain (pu) to the men, and then two of them, one with a cup of flour {du) and the other with 

 a jug of water, sprinkle on the ground, while the men dig a hole and put the bone with 

 its case into the ground. After this four reed>sticks are put up at the four corners, four feet 

 apart, like boundary pillars, and the tops are joined by three threads of different colours, 

 viz., red, white and yellow. Next immediately above the interred bone a forked stick is 

 placed in the ground, and from one arm is suspended a pair of new shoes if the deceased 

 is a man, and a pair of long boots [baukch) if a woman; and from the other arm is sus- 

 pended a gourd full of water. Below the gourd is a plate with flour {du) on it covered 

 with ghi, or clarified butter, and as there is a small hole in the bottom of the gourd, water 

 drops continually on the food beneath. 



That night there is given a funeral feast, and very special provision is made for the 

 soul of the deceased. A stone is placed upon two sticks, these being pushed into the wall 

 outside the house or into the roof outside, and a little cooked rice is put on it, and the 

 elders of the village make special prayer, beseeching old souls, called yishimis [jyz=oldand 

 shimi = a breast, but in this instance it means the soul of one whose death ceremony 

 ( dhurung ) has been performed], not to appropriate the food for themselves and thus 

 deprive the deceased. Great care is taken to renew the food thrice daily before the family 

 takes its own food, and it is not until the dhurung, or death ceremony, has taken place 

 that this giving of food ceases. At the funeral feast of the first night large balls of cooked 

 rice, as big as cricket-balls, are prepared and are distributed ( called rham ) next day by 

 two unmarried girls, each family in the village receiving two. These girls wear, although 

 unmarried, head-dress {chukla) which only married women wear, and one of them carries a 



