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The funeral (Tib. Shid) of a layman generally terminates, where circumstances allow of it, in the burning of the body, although the practice of exposing the corpse on the hills as a prey to wild animals, formerly a very common one, is even now sometimes resorted to on account of the scarcity of wood.' The ceremony of burning the body is performed upon an altar of a cubical form; in larger towns several of these are kept ready for immediate use; thus there are twelve such altars at Leh, surrounding the burial ground. In countries

where wood is plentiful, as in Bhután and Sikkim, enough is employed to render the combustion complete, nothing remaining but ashes; but in Tíbet it often happens that quantities of the bones remain unconsumed, which are then carefully collected, together with the ashes, and buried.2

The bodies of the Lamas are not burnt: they are

1 For descriptions of various kinds of funerals see Nouv. Journ. Asiat., Vol. IV., p. 254. Huc, "Souvenirs," Vol. II., p. 347. Cunningham, “Ladák,” p. 308.

2 Concerning the mode of collecting the ashes in Eastern Bengál and Assám my brother Hermann gave me the following details:-A cloth about three feet square is fastened at its four ends to canes about three to four feet high, which are driven into the earth; into this cloth, thus forming a sort of trough, the ashes, bones and remaining pieces of charcoal are gathered, and left to be dispersed by the wind, or gradually decomposed by the rain and heat. The tribes of the Khássia hills, where the amount of rain exceeds that of any known country, although it is limited to a duration of three to four months, have a most curious practise of keeping their dead till the rainy season is over; as long as the heavy rains last no combustion in the open air would be possible. They put the corpse into trunk of a hollow tree, and fill this up with honey, a process which prevents decomposition for several months, even in these hot and moist regions.

buried in a reclining attitude (not exactly in a sitting posture), with the knees brought up to the chin, and the whole corpse laced together into as small a space as possible; occasionally they are put into a cloth bag. In general, the graves are not dug; the grave-yard being selected in places abounding with stones, the corps is simply laid down on the ground and concealed beneath a heap of stones. The erection of Chortens over the dead is limited to exceptional cases. With the remarkable toleration so characteristic of Buddhism, my brothers were allowed to open and examine some of the graves near Leh, and they even induced a Lama to undertake the boiling of some corpses for the purpose of cleaning and preparing the skeletons, though the latter process had to be concealed from the population in general. The corpses taken out of their graves were not decomposed; the great dryness of the atmosphere had caused the flesh. to shrink to a hard leathery substance covering the bones, and this yielded but very slowly to the action of the boiling water. The length of several corpses compressed in the way just described was found to be from 21⁄2 to 3 feet.

During the process of combustion and interment prayers are recited and various ceremonies performed; offerings are presented to the god of the fire, Melha; the Zhiba Chrinsreg, to obtain the remission of the sins of the deceased,' is also performed. A ceremony which precedes the interment consists in the purchase of the burial-ground from the lord of the ground, in Tibetan 1 For its description see p. 249.

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