94 COLONEL T. HOLBEIN HENDLEY, C.I.E., ON KESEMBLANCES 
custom amongst us to grant leave at least for a year under 
such circumstances.” 
Josephus also, in the second book against Apion, refers to 
the care which was taken by the Jews for decent burial of the 
dead without extravagant expense for funerals, and without the 
erection of any illustrious monuments for them. The nearest 
relations should perform the obsequies, but all that pass by 
should accompany the funeral and join in the lamentation. 
However, in his “Antiquities of the Jews” he narrates the 
particular care of Archelaus that the procession of the body of 
his father, Herod, to his sepulchre should be very sumptuous. 
“ Accordingly he brought out all his ornaments to adorn the 
pomp of the funeral. The body was carried on a golden bier, 
embroidered with very precious stones of great variety, and it 
was covered over with purple, as well as the body itself ; he had 
a diadem upon his head, and above it a crown of gold ; he had 
also a sceptre in his right hand.” 
The bodies of Hindus, with certain exceptions, such as 
particular classes of Sanyasis or devotees, and children who die 
of small-pox, are cremated; but there is a funeral procession 
to the cremation ground, at which as many as possible attend. 
In the case of a great man or a chief nearly the whole 
population will be present. The bodies of deceased rulers, and 
sometimes those of priests, are carried upright, as Herod’s 
apparently was, in a chair of state, and are decked with jewels. 
It was in this manner, arrayed as if yet alive, that I saw the 
body of Maharaja Takht Singh of Jodhpore, borne for the last 
time down the slopes of the rock fort of his capital. Priests, 
with their hair unbound, ran before the corpse ; bards 
proclaimed bis titles ; and the people of the city went 
with the throng to the old capital of Mandore where he was 
burned. On this occasion every Marwari trader from Zanzibar 
to Hong Kong, and in all parts of India, shaved in honour of 
the deceased. A native gentleman heard of his father’s death 
in a distant town in which he was chief priest to a small raja. 
He was unable to be present, but was kept fully informed by 
telegram of all that transpired. At one telegram he was much 
incensed, because the family insisted in having the departed 
carried in a sitting posture in the funeral procession, on the 
ground that the chief himself would be present. My friend 
objected to the increased cost, which he said was due to the 
foolish pride of his relatives, pride from which he himself was 
emancipated, and because they did not reflect that the extra 
expense would fall upon him. Judges amongst the Jews were 
