PARK AND CC/nCTCRY. 
289 
among the Matarta’s. When one of the Anseyreehah 
dies, the body is well soaked, and is washed with 
warm water. The corpse is then wrapped in a white 
shroud. Likewise among the Abyssinians, the 
body is wrapped in a white cotton shroud. It was 
the custom in Greece that the women should wash 
and anoint the body, and then clothe it in clean 
white garments. It was also a rule with the Rom- 
ans for the body to be bathed in hot water and then 
anointed. Among the Assyrians and Babylonians, 
the corpse was wrapped in mats of reed and covered 
with asphalt; it was clothed in the dress and orna- 
ments that had been worn during life — the woman 
with her earrings in her ears, her spindle-whorl in 
her hands; the man with his seal and weapons of 
bronze or stone; the child with its necklace of 
shells. 
The Jews of ancient times had also a number of 
valuable articles deposited with them in the grave. 
Thus, when 1 lycranus opened the sepulchre of David 
he took out of it 3,000 talents. In like manner, 
Aristobolus was buried with many ornaments. With 
regard to the Syrians the Patriarch John complains 
that costly garments and all kinds of finery were 
buried with the dead. In Greece, too, many tombs 
have been found to contain various articles that had 
been dear or useful to the living. Among the 
Polynesians it was customary to bury with the dead 
some article of value; a female would have a cloth 
mallet laid by her side, whilst her husband would 
enjoin his friends to bury with him a favorite stone 
adze; or a beautiful white shell worn by him in the 
dance. Among various South African tribes, “the 
ornaments, rings, armlets, tobacco pipes, and 
articles of apparel worn by the departed are placed 
in the grave, as well as his broken spear, walking- 
stick, and other small personal effects.” In the case 
of the Jews, symbols and souvenirs of the calling of 
the deceased were sometimes suspended from the 
coffin, modern Jews often deposited in the grave a 
bag filled with earth (by preference dust of the 
Holy Land) which is placed under the head of the 
corpse. 
When the dead has been thoroughly prepared 
for burial he is placed in a coffin in a sleeping pos- 
ture, the hands and feet being stretched out to their 
fullest length. The corpse must on no account be 
squeezed together. The corner of the prayer cloak, 
of which a fringe was torn off, is left hanging out of 
the coffin. 
There is some uncertainty as to whether the 
dead were buried in ancient times with or without 
a coffin. 
In early Biblical times there is certainly no 
mention of a coffin being used for the corpse, with 
the solitary exception of the case of Joseph (Gen. i, 
26), and his interment in a coffin was no doubt 
owing to the fact that the Egyptians employed a 
kind of wooden case which contained the embalmed 
dead. In the passages in the New Testament bear- 
ing upon the subject there is also no trace of such a 
practice. 
In the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 
however, it is remarked that they were placed in a 
coffin prior to burial. With regard to Simeon, it 
is added that the coffin was of wood which did not 
decay. But this is, of course, only fanciful. 
At the same time the Talmud contains several 
names for coffins, and the precise instructions which 
it gives with regard to the manner of interring per- 
sons of different status unquestionably points to the 
fact that a coffin was generally employed to contain 
the mortal remains in Rabbinic times. 
A one day old child (as among the modern 
BIgyptians) is not borne to the grave in a coffin, 
but in one’s arms. A child of thirty days has a 
miniature coffin that is easy portable. The same 
rule applies to children under twelve months. A 
child aged from twelve months to three years is 
placed in a coffin that can be carried on one’s shoul- 
ders. A child that has completed the age of three, 
or advanced beyond it, is regarded as an adult, and 
conveyed to the grave on a bier. 
It appears that a stone used to be placed on the 
coffin of persons excommunicated by the Jews, 
Thus we are told that Akabya ben Mahalallel died 
under ban, and the Beth-Din cast stones upon his 
coffin. R. Jehuda says, however, that it was Elizer 
ben Chanoch who was “banned.” When he died a 
stone was laid on his coffin by order of the Beth 
Din. Hence it is to be inferred that one throws 
stones upon the coffin of one who has been excom- 
municated and died under ban. The custom was 
however, abolished by the rabbis of the Middle 
Ages. It was possibly based on the case of Achan, 
who, having been as it were excommunicated for 
having taken of a devoted thing, had a great heap 
of stones raised over him (Josh, vii., 26). A similar 
custom prevails among the Arabs. The Sunnysidc. 
A number of projects are on foot to commem- 
orate the poet Burns on the centenary of his death. 
A contemporary describes one of the proposed 
memorials as follows: The centenary of Robert 
Burn’s death is going to be celebrated in Scotland 
by the laying of a corner-stone of a sensible monu- 
ment. Around a tower which is to contain relics 
of Burns will be erected a large number of cottages 
designed to shelter deserving old people who through 
ill luck have failed in their struggle with the world. 
The tower and cottages overlook the fields where 
Burns plowed up the daisy and wrote his poems. 
