SOME METHODS OF BURNING THE DEAD

Dunstan Times, Issue 1166, 4 July 1884, Page 3

SOME METHODS OF BURNING THE DEAD

■ . (Pall Mall Gazette ) Asmuchinterest is. beuig evinced just now in the cremation question, the following account of some methods of burning the dead are apropos :■ - A CREMATION TN SIAM. Here is'an account of a -cremation ceremony which took place in Siam where only , those areburied who cannot pay {the fees. To be cremated in Siam most be a pleasure. When the time for tbe funeral arrives the hpdy is,laid in a receptacle on the summit of tf.stately pyramid, the form and material of which indicate thd wealth and position of the deceased. It is thickly gilded, andthe receptable lined with plates of solid gold when the body has belonged to one of Royal lineage and well filled coffers. The last is quite as essential as the first to a gorgeous Oriental funeral, since for rank without money an East Indian has ever the most profound contempt. Both requisites were fortunately united in the person of the Queen Mother of King Pra-NangxKlau. At tbe funeral of this aged Queen there was *uch a display of oriental magnificence as r.irely falls to the lot of Western eyes to witness. The, embalmed, body lay in state under a golden canopy for eight months; the myrrh, frankincense, and aromatic oils used in its preparation cost upwards of LIOOO, and the golden pyre above 1.20.000, Tbe hangings'were of the richest silks and velvets, trimmed with bullion fringe and costly lace, and the wrappings of the body of pure white silk, embroidered with pearls and precious stones, incredible quantities of massive jewellery decked the shrunken corpse, and a dia le n of glittering gems cast its prismatic radiance over the withered features. 'Du y golden lamps, fed with perfumed oil, bur e I day and n ght around the pyre, while every portion of the vast saloon was decorated with rare and beautiful flowers, arranged in all the various forms of crowns, sceptres, temp es. angels, birds, lanterns, wreaths, and arches, till Flora herself might have wondered at the boundless resources of her domain. Day and night musical instruments were played, dirges wailed forth, and prostrations perpetually performed ; while twice every day the king, attended by his whole court, made offerings to the departed spirit, b* at his breast, tore his hair, and declared lift “utterly unendurable without the beloved one.”

A CREMATION ON TUB COLOEADO'RIVKR. Here ia an account of a cremation among the North American Indiana, the Cocopa tribe, on the Colorada River :—A short instance from the collection of thatched huti which composed the village, a shallow ditch had been dug in the desert, in which were laid logs of the mezquite (prosopis and strombocarpus), hard and dense wood, which makes, as all Western campaigners know, a very hot tire with little dame or smoke. After a short time the body was brought fn m the village, surrounded by the family“and other inhabitants, and laid on the logs in the trench; The relatives, as is usual with Indians, had their faces disfigured with black paint, and the females, as is the custom with other savages, made very lond exclamations of grief, mingled wi hj what might be supposed to be funeral songs. Some smaller fagots were then placed on top,.a few personal effects of the dead' man added, and fire applied. After a time a dense mass of dark colon red'smoke arose, and the ’mr png of he body, which was much em. c ited, proceeded rapidly. I

(says the eye-witness) began to be rather tired of the spectacle, and was about to go away, when one of th , Indians, in a few wnr sot Spanish, told .me to. remain, as there was something yet to be seen. An old man then a ivanoe H from the assemblage with a long pointed stick in his hand Going noar to the burning body, he removed he eyes, ho'd'ng them successively in the direction of ihe aim, with his face turned towards that luminary, repeating at the a nme time some words which I understood from our gui le were a prayer for the happi ness of the soul of the deceased. After this mors fagots were heaped on the fire, which was kept up for perhaps three or four hours longer. 1 did not remain, as there was no’hing more of interest, bat I learned on inquiry that after the fire was hurned.outit was the custom to collect the fragments of bone which remained and put them in a terra-cotta vase, which was kept under the care of the family. I CURIOSITIES IN BURIAL. The modes of disposing of the dead are many and curious. Tbs Hindoos, for instance, expose their dead on the banks of the Ganges and the Hooghly to be carried away by adigators. The Parsecs expose their bodies upon hi jh gratings to teed the , birds of prey. Vertz advocates burial at sea, and pictures the ■* dead ship gaily departing from the strand with its lifeless

burden, and reverently and prayerfully committing the bodi-s to the deep.” The only pmpo, it appear, who practice sea burial are the ab engines of the Oh.atam ,Islan Is. When a fisherman there departs this life they put a baited rod in his hand, and, after lashing him last iu a- boat, send him adrift to sea. According to Mr Bassie, a method of petrifaction hj -s been broached, but has met with no success. The system pursued by the ancient Peruvians was ingenious, and apparently eff-ctive. It consisted in piling up coffins of plaster in pyramid fashion. One, carefully examined, measured over three and a-half millions of cubic feet, and was one miss of half, mummified bodies. Of burial in the earth the most persistent practi-era are the Chi-, nese. Then there is embalmment, and an analogous process which consists of drying up the body then interring it. A tribe in South Australia place their deceased in a sitting posture near the top of the hut, and keep up the fire until it is dry, when they proceed to bandage it, even’ually hiding it away in the branches of trees THE BRAHMIN BDRIAL SERVICE. . The following compilation from a burial service of the Brahmins, who are the priests of all the other castes of Hindoos that burn their dead, may prove interes tin' to the reader. It is extracted from the “ Sacred Hntb'dogy” 0 Earth ! to tbee we commend our hro. ther : of thee he was formed, by thee b' was sustained, and unto tbee he now re< turns. 0 Fire! Thou hadst a claim on our hro ther during life : he subsisted by thy influence in nature : to thee we commit hii body, thou emblem of purity ; may hit spirit be purified on entering a new state o existence 0 Air ! while the breath of life continued our brother respired by tbee; his las ■ breath is now departed, to thee we yielc him.

0 Water / thon didst contribute to the life of our brother ; thon wert one of his sustaining elements ; his remains are howdispersed ; receive thy share of him who has now taken an everlasting flight.

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