Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/347

 FUNEBAL. 319 themselves before the dead body, thus paying their respects. Large loaves of bread are prepared, and, with many varieties of fruit, placed on a table before the body ; while a feast is got up for the friends, almost all of whom send presents of paper to be burnt, or some money, or long sheets of the strong Corean parchment-like paper, covered over with the praises of the dead. The mourners sleep by turns ; for candles bum and wailing is kept up day and night. The poor bury on the fifth, seventh, or ninth day after death. The wealthy may retain the body for three months; which matters not, as the pine coffin, like that of the Chinese, is air tight, though, unlike the Chinese, it is made to fit the body. Those who bury a few days after death, never consult the horologer ; but if the burial is months after death, an auspicious day is chosen for the funeral. A good deal of paper is used up in cutting out fac aimiles of Corean cash, about the same size as the old Peking cash, or much like our new penny. Many of these are burnt, and thousands are scattered along the road by which the funeral marches. The coffin is placed on a framework of beams, and carried by thirty hired men. These are coffin carriers by profession, and belong to the lowest of the people. The coffin is covered, top and sides, with finely carved pieces of wood, and with a whole piece, of about twenty yards, of satin, black, blue, or red, — quality, not colour, being considered. When the coffin was being closed, a literary friend oiffered up prayers for the well-being of the dead ; again when the coffin crosses the door, again when the carved work and satin are put on, frequently along the road, and on returning. Before the coffin is a procession of hired men, one of them carrying a box containing a garment or two belonging to the dead man, and scattering paper cash on both sides ; while lamps and tablets are raised aloft by others. The sons, in mourning, follow the coffin ; then friends and acquaintances on horseback, and in sedan chair&