A CHINESE FUNERAL.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 248, 5 December 1873, Page 3

A CHINESE FUNERAL.

It will be remembered that a China man named Mow Tai, a partner in the firm of viun, War, On" and Go., poisoned himself .through taking a overdose of opium. After the inquest (at which a verdict was returned that deceased died through the effects of opium administered by himself while in a state of temporary insanity), the friends of the departed, who appear to have some curious notions on the subject, made, an application to the authorities that they might be allowed to. keep the body for a week before interment. This application they made, not from any superstitious motive, but from a possibility of restoring him to life 7 or, in other words, they thought it possible, that he might not be dead." They stated that they had known instances of Chinamen, both in China and Australia, who had ] been thrown into an apparent death through an overdose of opium, and who afterwards by proper treatment had been, -brought round. Borne .Chinamen dilute with vinegar, some with water, and it is said that those who only take the water mixture are often resuscia}ed while those who take vinegar are never brought round. The Chinaman ifi-question had partaken ofa mixture of opium and water, and for this reason it was thought possible that he might be restored to life. -The proper remedy to administer in such cases is a dose or series ot doses, of duck ? s blood; and this appears to have been done in the present instance to the unfortunate Mow Tai, but without avail-' . So his friends at last gave it up for a bad job, and decided to bury him.—Otago ' Guardian.*