r o u n d t h e w o r l d .
placed upon it, and here the body remains to putrify till the ^
fiefh is wholly wafted from the bones.
Thefe houfes of corruption are of a fize proportioned to
the rank of the perfon whofe body they are to contain; thofe
allotted to the lower clafs are juft fufficient to cover the bier,
and have no railing round them. The largeft we ever faw
was eleven yards long, and fuch as thefe are ornamented
according to the abilities and inclination of the furvivmg
kindred, who never fail to lay a ptofufion of good, cloth
about the body, and fom-etimcs almoft cover the outfide of
the houfe. Garlands of the fruit of the palm-nut or panda-
ms, and cocoa leaves, twilled by the priefts in myfterious
knots, with a plant called by them Elhee no Morai, which is
particularly confecrated to funereal folemnides, are depofited
about the place 5 provifion and water are .alfo left at a little
diftance, of which,, and of other decorations, a more particular
defcription has been given already.
As foon as the body is depofited in the Tupapow, the
mourning is renewed. The women affemble, and are led
to the door by the neareft relation, who ftrikes a Ihark s
tooth feveral times into the crown of te r head: the blood
copioufly follows, and is carefully received upon £iec«s ° f
linen, which are thrown under the bier. The reft of the
women follow this example, and the ceremony is repeated
at the interval of two or three days, as long as the zeal and
forrow of the parties hold out. The tears alfo which are
fhed upon thefe occafions, are received upon pieces of cloth,
and offered as oblations to the dead: fome o f the younger
people cut off their hair, and that is thrown under the bier
with the other offerings. This cuftom is founded upon a
notion that the foul of the deCeafed, which they believe to
.exift in a feparate ftate, is hovering about the .place where
V01..IL .H h the