56 



BEGGARS AND COFFINS. Chap. III. 



repaired^ and wliicli bore all tlie marks of having 

 been recently visited by relatives, were some from 

 which no friendly hand had cleared away the weeds. 

 Ages ago they had been built without regard to 

 expense, and for many years they had been, no 

 doubt, visited by loving friends, who had burned 

 incense uj)on them, and strewed them with wild 

 flowers and paper streamers. But now they were 

 going fast to decay ; they were not visited or re- 

 paired at the usual and stated times ; and their 

 tenants had been long since forgotten. And as it 

 had been with these, so it would be with the others 

 which were now so carefully attended to. A few 

 years more, and their tenants too would be for- 

 gotten, however rich or however much loved. 



"When a wealthy Chinese dies at a distance from 

 his home, his body is brought back to his native 

 place by his relations in order that he may sleep 

 with his fathers. In front of an old temple near 

 Tse-kee I observed a number of coffins lying 

 under the verandah, and on inquiry found that 

 they had all been brought from some distance, and 

 had been laid down there until a lucky spot could 

 be found out for their final resting-place. Some 

 had apparently lain here for a long period of time. 

 Under the same verandah, and amongst these 

 cofSns, a colony of gipsy beggars had taken up 

 their quarters, which to me had a curious appear- 

 ance. However, these people seemed to have no 

 supernatural fears of any kind, and were on such 

 friendly terms with their dead companions, that 



