21 6 SCENES IN INDIA. 
a profusion of red flowers. The procession was to- 
lerably numerous, consisting of the friends and rela- 
tives of the deceased, the latter of whom appeared 
as chief mourners, filling the air with their discor- 
dant lamentations. Nearly the whole village join- 
ed the mournful cavalcade, in order to pay their last 
tribute of respect to the remains of a departed brother. 
Those persons who immediately followed the bier 
made a dismal wailing, which was every now and 
then broken by a sort of shrill chorus in praise of 
the virtues of the dead. This kind of funeral elegy 
is always chanted on these solemn occasions, and is 
considered to form a very essential part of Hindoo 
obsequies, whether the body be disposed of by cremation 
or sepulture. The dissonance of their loud and elabo- 
rate wailings, mixed with the din of tomtoms, horns, 
and trumpets,, defies description. 
When the corpse was brought to the spot destined 
for its consumption, two parallel trenches were dug a 
few inches deep and about four feet apart ; these were 
crossed by a trench at either end, the whole space 
forming a parallelogram about six feet long by four wide, 
each angle being opposite to one of the four cardinal 
points. The charpoy was then placed upon the ground 
and the body uncovered. It was in a very advanced 
state of decomposition, although death had only taken 
place late the preceding night. Upon the forehead 
a mark of caste had been distinctly traced, and the 
mouth was crammed with betel-nut. The flowers 
were now taken from the coverlet and strewed over 
the body, to weaken the fetid exhalations which arose 
powerfully from it and must have been intolerable to 
