OBSEQUIES. 
365 
Almost Immediately subsequent to the decease of the individual. 
Priests attend to read the customary ritual or service for the dead, 
which is a part nearly in the terms just alluded to as used in the pre¬ 
sence of a sick person. They chaunt the Sow at, and P,heett,hakoon 
and PJira malm. While the body remains in the house, the relations 
hurn near it tapers and incense sticks, and place viands before it, 
and every day a feast is given to friends and neighbours, accompanied 
by various public exhibitions according to the wealth of the givers. 
The chief of these are Len k,h6n or dancing and singing, Iloon or 
puppets resembling Punch and his attendants, distinguished into those 
of Ava, Laos, and China. The Burmese are much attached to this 
amusement; almost every Governor of a province keeps a band. Next 
there is the Lakjidn or Comic Opera, and the ngecoobhen or Chi¬ 
nese Play. The Chinese acting is the most pompous imaginable; most 
of their plays seem to hinge on some Tartar romance, or the actual 
adventure of some Tartar Prince. The stage is one continued scene 
of grotesque and noisy military bustle, except when a measured 
speech Is to be delivered. This the hero utters generally in a sitting 
posture, stroking the while his jetty beard, with Islamitic gravity, 
and, when a few sentences have been interchanged with the person 
addressed, anon comes a deafening peal of drums and brazen instru¬ 
ments, while hostile armies encounter with wooden spears, and shields, 
and a mimicry of war is displayed sufficiently indicative of the Chi¬ 
nese deficiency in point of pugnacity and good taste. 
There are also exhibited T,kept,hang, or a particular kind of dance 
with scenical representations and phantasmagoria, in which the sha¬ 
dows are made to act a sort of play. 
The Malays are expert at this entertainment. It is termed by them 
Wayang kulit, and it is probable that they had it from Java. There 
are also fencing, boxing, and wrestling matches, tight rope dancing, 
juggling, and feats of dexterity and strength. 
The Relatives of the deceased, to shew their liberality, enclose pieces 
of money In limes and throw them amongst the crowd. At night fire 
trees, or a collection of fire works, fastened in bamboos, are dis¬ 
played. 
