THE LATE KING OF COCHIN CHINA. 
340 
constructed expressly for it, no person went into this boat, 
the corpse was left by itself, and the coffin concealed in 
such a way that it could not be seen by any one. The 
journey upon the river then commenced. First was a boat 
in which were the bonzes mounted upon a stage which ten 
soldiers supported on their shoulders, and whether they went 
in a boat or whether they walked, the bonzes were upon 
this and they prayed, they shouted, eulogising the defunct; but 
all in a manner ridiculous, even in the eyes of sensible pagans. 
These poor bonzes were obliged to remain upon the stage 
during the whole journey, and they were not allowed to descend 
on any account however pressing. Three other boats follow¬ 
ed which had also other three stages; upon one was displayed 
a large piece of white damask fastened upon a wooden frame, 
and on this damask were written a number of large supersti¬ 
tious characters. This is, according to the pagans, the abode 
of one of the souls of the defunct. On another stage were 
rice, fruits and other meats, and upon the last stage were 
perched certain mountebanks whose duty is to chase away 
the demons who wished to come and seize the soul of the 
defunct, or at least vex it in any manner they could. These 
individuals had their bodies painted different colours, some 
white, others black, others red, green, blue, violet, brown. 
They had wooden swords, lances, or other weapons of wood 
in their hands, some had fire brands. They howled, they sung, 
danced, made a thousand contortions, shook their wooden arms 
or fire brands, all with the purpose of frightening the demons. 
After these barques came the boat which bore the corpse 
tewed by another boat, and after it came the boat of the new 
king who was alone with his women. His boat was also 
towed, then came boats bearing the princes and the manda¬ 
rins : There were also boats in which were soldiers carrying 
fire brands and torches, besides other boats in which the sol¬ 
diers had arms, muskets, sabres, and lances. Thus they 
proceeded on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd day, observing all that 
has been said above, and scattering throughout a large quan¬ 
tity of gold and silver paper. They slept during the night in 
the boats. They also eat in the boats. 
At last on the 11th, they arrived near the tomb, built in a 
mountain very near the river. On one side of the mountain an 
edifice had been built of beautiful stone enclosed by a wall. In 
this edifice are the apartments which must serve as a prison to 
the wives of the defunct who have no children. They are 
perpetually shut up there to guard the sepulchre, and prepare 
daily the food and the other things of which they think the 
