religion, orometua, o f which mention has been made before p. 542. A fte r
this. burial o f the bones the relations,, now and then renew feme;
funeral ceremonies with the pried:, who takes, a bunch o f the red.
feathqrs of a parroquet:called obra, and twilled together with coconut
filaments,_ and fixes them on a' fmall pointed flick in the-
. ground; (thefe feathers are in high eflimation. with- thefe people;
and become- the emblem o f the divinity, and. fer.ye to fix, their,
attention, during the ceremony) oppofite to this’ bunch o f feathers:
a young plantane is placed,, which is the emblem o f friendlhip,,
peace,-and expiation j .the priefl. Hands with the relations over.
againfl
eorpfe in a little houfe of wood fix feet longand' two feet widej. and'when I came near ai
fox efcaped out of' it,, who hacr been preying on the dead. body : befides the vanes- above,
mentioned, .the kfialmyks had. fixed about this fepulchre pieces of. wood pierced in the
middle by a hole, through which the {ticks were thru ft on which the wooden vanes, almoft.
Gonflantly moved by the leaft breath of wind ; thefe pieces ,of. wood were on the two op—
polite fides hollowed out like fpoons. of about feven or eight inches-.long and xfive wide, and-
covered on the hollow part with Tibetan charafters. The lamas or priefts of the khalmyks:
fay that as often as the vane or this--wooden inftrument moves round, the fubftance of the
prayers for the repofe of the deceafed,, is as it were offered up - to God. - In the Archaologid.
of the-Society, of Antiquaries of London,-, vol.ii. p. 2.-33. is inferred a Memoir,, written in:
1767 ; wherein I have defcribed- the fix modes of burial ufual among thofe who follow,
the religion of the Dalai-lama. According to th.e firft mode they burn .the eorpfe o f their-
Lamas, Khans,-Noions, and other people of rank, andpreferve their afhes mixed with frank--
incenfe, and' fend the whole to the Dalai-lama in Tibet. 2. They keep, the bodies in a->
coffin and afterwards cover them with ftones. 3. Some are carried, to the tops o f mountains,,
and left there a prey to birds and.beafts. 4. Some are carried to an inclofure full o f dogs,,
and there the burier feeds the dogs with tfie flefh fevered, from the bones,' and cafts thebones
i
«gainil the bunch of- red feathers and 'repeats his prayers, after
which he depofits jon the grave, feme coconut-leaves twilled into
various fhapes and knots during his prayer, and the relations
like wife, leave a few provifio'ns.
Inflead o f a man, I faw at O-Taha a woman wear, the heva-
drefs j a ceremonious dance was performed at. the fame place, and
the neareft relations appeared well drelfed with prefents o f cloth for
the drummers and muficians. From all the ceremonies of the
burial it appears,—that the people at Taheitee and its neighbourhood,
have an idea o f a feparate Hate, in which the Te'ebee or foul
4 C 2 lives,
bones into the water, -and gives the ikull to the relations o f the deceafed, who carry k
srefpeélfully horne, 3, Some corpfes are thrown into the water. . 6. Others are buried
under ground. The mode of burial is fixed and determined upon by the prieft according to
•the hour' in which a perfon dies, as each-time requires a different way o f burying. Thefe
circumftanees are confirmed by Dr. P. S* P alias, F. R. S. in his Travels through-Jeveral
Provinces of the Ruffian Empire, vol, i, p. 362, • 363., and partly' by John Stewart, Efq.
F, R. S. in his account of the Kingdom of f i le t , in the Philof. Tran/, vol. Ixvii. -pl.-iL
$>, 4-78. In the iflaad of' Formofa or Tayovan- the inhabitants -keep the corpfes- o f their
deceafed in their houfes on an elevated ftage, and put five under them in order to: d¥y them,
after the ninth-day they wrap the body in mats and cloth, and expofe them on a ftill higher
ftage ,• after the body has been thus kept during three years the bones are buryed. Relation
of the Ißand of Formofa by CanHidius. The people in Corea do not bury the remains of
their deceafed friends till after three years are elapfcd.- Du Halde*s'Hift. of , China* The
indians upon the l iver Oronoka-luffer the corpfes of their chiefs to'pu trefy and when the
flelh is decayed they drefs the ïkeletan with - jewels' óf -gold 'and ornaments >.of feathers, and
füfpend it in a hut. Seethe^oya^ of'Sir Walter Raleigh in Hakluyfs Voyages, - vol, iii. p. 644..
edit. 15 ^ , Afpoilonius R'hodius Argonatttic. lib. iii. p. 207•, and likewife JElian. war*
Hißoria, lib. iv. ch. i. mention that the Colchi few die eorpfe of their deceafed relations m
raw
8 'I
RELIGION.