250 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XV. 
dead are scattered all over the sides of the hills, the most 
pleasant situations being generally selected. The more 
wealthy individuals often convey their dead a consider- 
able distance, and employ a kind of fortune-teller, 
whose duty it is to find out the most appropriate rest- 
ing-place. This man goes with the corpse to the place 
appointed, and of course pretends to be very wise in the 
selection of the spot as well as in the choice of the soil 
with which the ashes of the dead are to mingle in 
after years ; and upon trial, should the particular earth 
appear unsuitable, he immediately orders the procession 
off to some other place in the neighbourhood, where he 
expects to be more successful. I believe many of the 
Chinese have this important point settled before they 
die ; for one day, when one of our principal merchants 
went to call on old Howqua, the late Hong-merchant 
at Canton, a tray was brought into the room with seve- 
ral kinds of earth upon it, which the old man examined 
with great care, and then fixed on the one in which he 
wished to be buried. 
A situation on the hill- side is also considered of great 
importance, especially if it commands a view of a beau- 
tiful bay or lake. But I believe that of all places the 
one most coveted is where a winding stream, in its 
course, passes and then returns again to the foot of the 
hill where the grave is to be made. The director of the 
ceremonies, with a compass in his hand, settles the 
direction in which the body is to lie, which is another 
point of great importance. An intelligent Chinese with 
whom I was acquainted informed me that this fortune- 
teller of the dead is often very eloquent in his descrip- 
