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BIRMAH. 83
who may be invited on the occasion. These presents
usually consist of pieces of cotton cloth, sugar-cane,
and fruits of various kinds. On their arrival at the
place of incineration, fuel is placed under the coffin,
the moveable ornaments being first taken away ; and
the corpse is consumed, after which the bones are
interred. Infants and criminals are buried, as also
the poorest part of the community. All funeral pro-
cessions must pass out of the city by a particular gate,
called the Funeral Gate ; and no corpse must be car-
ried towards a city or town where the governors
usually reside. The banks of the Irrawaddy are not
selected for the performance of funeral obsequies, like
the banks of the Ganges; neither are its waters re-
garded as possessing any sacred qualities, nor are they
in the least degree the object of superstitious reverence.
The business of the priests at funerals is, to recite
some portion of their sacred books, and to receive
presents; -but it is not customary for them to take
any other part in funeral ceremonies, unless at the
incineration of their own order, in which they render
personal assistance. As food is generally given them,
and they do not eat in the afternoon, funerals are
usually attended in the morning. It is customary
to preserve the corpses of priests a long time previously
to incineration. This is done by embalming the body,
after removing those parts and fluids most liable o
become offensive, and then covering it with gold leaf.*
* " When apriest dies, he has peculiar honors paid him. Several
months since, a neighbouring priest died, or returned, for the
Birmans think it undignified to say that a priest dies. His body
was immediately wrapped up in tar and wax ; holes were perforated
through the feet and some distance up the legs, into which
one end of a hollow bamboo was inserted, and the other fixed m
the ground. The body was then pressed and squeezed, so that its
fluids were forced down through the legs, and conveyed off by