Page:Pearl of Asia (Child JT, 1892).pdf/177



A novel sight is frequently witnessed in Bangkok, conveying the remains of a mandarin from his residence to one of the Hong Kong steamers, so that it can be transported to the home of his nativity and buried beside his parents. The boat that contains the coffin is filled with friends and relatives, all dressed in white, that being the color of their mourning garments, this is accompanied by other boats decorated and containing musicians, priests and others making quite a display. The beating of gongs and blowing of horns announce that the flotilla is coming, generally five or six boats, that containing the corpse in the lead. The body is encased in a handsome coffin covered with gilding and elaborately carved, more like an ornamented chest than a coffin, and on it is fastened a beautiful white bantam rooster; over the casket is suspended a pavilion and above it two blue banners and two large blue lanterns with other decorations. As soon as the steamer is reached the casket is placed in the hold with the rooster still on it, and by the time the vessel reaches its destination the doomed bird has also gone out into the unknown with the spirit of the son of the celestial. I failed to learn why a rooster was thus sacrificed, though it is supposed that the purity of the white bird might aid in blotting out some of the sins of the deceased or possibly his spirit would seek it as a taber-