2

The grave is represented as a place where the deceased finds his desired rest, and if denied proper burial he is believed not only to walk but to suffer. The Iroquois considered that unless the rites of burial were performed, the spirits. of the dead had to wander for a time upon the earth in a state of great unhappiness; hence their extreme solicitude to recover the bodies of their slain in battle. The Abipones regard it as the greatest misfortune for the dead to be left to rot in the open air, and they therefore inter even the smallest bone of a departed friend. In Ashantee the spirits of those who for some reason or other have been deprived of the customary funeral rites are doomed, in the imagination of the people, to haunt the gloom of the forest, stealing occasionally to their former abodes in rare but lingering visits, troubling and bewitching their neglectful relatives.3 The Negroes of Accra believe that happiness in a future life depends not only upon courage, power, and wealth in this world, but also upon a proper burial. In some Australian tribes the souls of those whose bodies have been left to lie unburied are supposed to have to prowl on the face of the earth and about the place of death, with no gratification but to harm the living; or there is said to be no future existence for them, as their bodies will be devoured by crows and native dogs. Among the Bataks of Sumatra nothing is considered to be a greater disgrace to a person than to be denied a grave; for by not being held worthy of burial he is declared to be spiritually dead. The Samoans believed that the souls of unburied friends, for instance such as had been drowned or had fallen in war, haunted them everywhere, crying out in a pitiful tone, "Oh, how cold! Oh, how cold!" According to Karen ideas the

5

spirits of those who die a natural death and are decently buried go to a beautiful country and renew their earthly life, whereas the ghosts of persons who by accident are left uninterred will wander about the earth, occasionally showing themselves to mankind. Confucius connected the disposal of the dead immediately with the great virtue of submission and devotion to superiors. No act is in China recognised more worthy a virtuous man than that of interring stray bones and covering up exposed coffins,3 and to bury a person who is without friends is considered to be as great a merit as to save life. It is also held. highly important to provide the proper place for a grave; the Taouists maintain that "if a coffin be interred in an

improper spot, the spirit of the dead is made unhappy, and avenges itself by causing sickness and other calamities to the relatives who have not taken sufficient care for its repose." The ancient Chaldeans believed that the spirits of the unburied dead, having neither place of repose nor means of subsistence, wandered through the town and country, occupied with no other thought than that of attacking and robbing the living. In classical antiquity it was the most sacred of duties to give the body its funeral rites, and the Greeks referred the right of sepulture to the gods as its authors.

So also among peoples who practise cremation the dead themselves are considered to be benefited by being burned. The Nâyars of Malabar are of opinion that no time should be lost in setting about the funeral, as the disposal of a corpse either by cremation or burial as soon

as possible after death is conducive to the happiness of the spirit of the departed; they say that "the collection. and careful disposal of the ashes of the dead gives peace to his spirit." 1 The Thlinkets maintain that those whose bodies are burned will be warm and comfortable in the other world, whereas others will have to suffer from cold. "Burn my body! Burn me!" pleaded a dying Thlinket; "I fear the cold. Why should I go shivering through all the ages and the distances of the next world?" The ancient Persians, on the other hand, considered both cremation and burial to be sins for which there was no atonement, and exposed their dead on the summits of mountains, thinking it a great misfortune if neither birds nor beasts devoured their carcases. So also the Samoyedes and Mongols held it to be good for the deceased. if his corpse was soon devoured by beasts, and the Kamchadales regarded it as a great blessing to be eaten by a beautiful dog. The East African Masai, who likewise, as a rule, expose their dead to the wild beasts, say that if the corpse is eaten by the hyænas the first night, the deceased must have been a good man, as the hyænas are supposed to act by the command of 'Ng ais, or God."

3

Certain ceremonies are professedly performed for the purpose of preventing evil spirits from doing harm to the dead. This is sometimes the case with cremation; we are told that among some Siberian peoples the dead are burned so as to be "effectually removed from the machinations of spirits." The Teleutes believe that the

272. Cf. Yarrow, in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. i. 103 (Caddoes or Timber Indians).

5 Steller, op. cit. p. 273.

6 Merker, Die Masai, p. 193.

7 See Frazer, 'Certain Burial Customs as illustrative of the Primitive Theory of the Soul,' in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xv. 87 sq.; Hertz, La représentation collective de la mort,' in L'année sociologique, x., 1905-1906, p. 56 sq.

Georgi, op. cit. iii. 264.

spirits of the earth do much mischief to the departed; hence their shamans drive them off at the funeral by striking the air several times with an axe.1 In Christian countries the passing-bell has likewise been supposed to repel evil spirits.2

Fasting after a death is regarded as a dutiful tribute to the dead; the Chinese say that it is "a means of raising the mind up to the soul, a means to enable the sacrificer to perform in a more perfect way the acts of worship incumbent upon him, by bringing about a closer contact between himself and the soul." 3 The self-mutilations performed by the relatives of the dead are supposed to be pleasing to him as tokens of affliction; and the same is of course the case with the lamentations at funerals. In some Central Australian tribes the custom of painting the body of a mourner is said to have as its object "to render him or her more conspicuous, and so to allow the spirit to see that it is being properly mourned for." The mourning dress is a sign of regard for the dead. Nay, even the custom of not mentioning his name is looked upon in the same light. Some peoples maintain that to name him would be to disturb his rest," or that he would take it as an indication that his relatives are not properly mourning for him, and would feel it as an insult."

As the duties to the living, so the duties to the dead are greatly influenced by the relationship between the parties. Everywhere the obligation to satisfy the wants of the deceased is incumbent upon those who were nearest to him whilst alive. In the archaic State, as we have seen, it is considered the greatest misfortune which can befall a person to die without descendants, since in such a case there would be nobody to attend to his soul." Confucius said, "For a

1 Georgi, op. cit. iii. 264.

Frazer, in Jour. Anthr. Inst. v. 87. 3 de Groot, op. cit. (vol. ii. book) i. 657.

Dorman, Origin of Primitive Superstitions, p. 216 sqq.

Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 511.

Nansen, Eskimo Life, p. 233 (Greenlanders). Tout,Ethnology of the Stlatlumh of British Columbia,' in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xxxv. 138. Georgi, op. cit. iii. 27 (Samoyedes).

7 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 498.

8

Supra, ii. 400 sqq.

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man to sacrifice to a spirit which does not belong to him is flattery." The distinction between a tribesman or fellow countryman and a stranger also applies to the dead. In Greenland a stranger without relatives or friends was generally suffered to lie unburied. Among North American Indians it is permitted to scalp warriors of a hostile tribe, whereas "there is no example of an Indian having taken the scalp of a man of his own tribe, or of one belonging to a nation in alliance. with his own, and whom he may have killed in a quarrel or a fit of anger"; and an Indian who would never think of desecrating the grave of a tribesman may have "no such scruple in regard to the graves of another tribe." Yet already from early times we hear of the recognition of certain duties even to strangers and enemies. The Greeks of the post-Homeric age made it a rule to deliver up a slain enemy so that he should receive the proper funeral rites. It was considered a disgraceful act of Lysander not to accord burial to Philocles, the Athenian general at Aegospotami, together with about four thousand prisoners whom he put to the sword; and the Athenians themselves boasted that their ancestors had with their own hands buried the Persians who had fallen in the battle of Marathon, holding it to be "a sacred and imperative duty to cover with earth a human corpse.' According to the Chinese penal code, "destroying, mutilating, or throwing into the water the unenclosed and unburied corpse of a stranger, a stranger," though a much less serious crime than the same injury inflicted upon the corpse of a relative, is yet an offence punishable with 100 blows, and perpetual banishment to the distance of 3,000 lee.s

6

The duties to the dead also vary according to the age,

1 Lun Yü, ii. 24. I.

2 Cranz, op. cit. i. 218. Domenech, Seven Years' Residence in the Great Deserts of North America,

ii. 357.

Dodge, Our Wild Indians, p. 162. 5 Schmidt, Die Ethik der alten

Griechen, ii. 100 sqq. Rohde, op. cit. p. 200 sq.

6 Pausanias, ix. 32. 9.

7 Ibid. i. 32. 5; ix. 32. 9.

8 Ta Tsing Leu Lee, sec. cclxxvi. p. 295.