The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1883-06-07

NHnt may Dc paFllculaflIeu as the
public obsequies of the deceased, on the
special occasion | refer to, were com
menced by a procession issuing from
the house on the mission known MS
''buying the water wherewith to wash
the body OF the deceased. First came
the musicians" (save the word); then
a priest, wearing long robe of dark
red color and sort of college cap; and
lastly, the Whitehead mourners. On the
mainland, the procession would prob
ably have repaired to the nearest river,
well, or even the wet ditch of the citv,
Tor the water; but these antiquated con
yeniences being scarce in Hong-Kong.
the sorrowful cortege on this occasion
was compelled TO wend its steps to the
Government hydrant at the end of the
street! The leading actor in this cere-
mony of ''buying the water was, as
usual, the eldest son of the deceased, a
boy about seven or eight years of age
Notwithstanding his youth, however, his
part was performed with an exactness
that must have resulted from consider
able amount of previous instruction.
Bearing in his hand a wand covered with
white indented paper, supported on
each side by a female relative, and bend
ing nearly double in token of his intense
grief, this young scion of the deceased
proceeded slowly and gravely in the di-
rection of the hydrant, the 'sbandn
meanwhile doing their best with the
toms-toms and that close imitation of
the Scotch bagpipe, the Chinese pipe.
Arrived at the hydrant, the party knelt
around that useful apparatus; the
''musiciansn redoubled their exertions,
and the priest his prayers; more incense
was burned, and a tremendous burst of
wailing and lamentation went up from
the mourners. While these perform
ances We're in operation, the youth to
whom / have just referred drew, with
requisite prostrations and solemnity, a
basin of water from the hydrant, and
then scattered few coins on the ground
by way of payment. 1t is essential in
this ceremony that the water should be
paid for. The procession thereafter re-
turned to the house, where doubtless
the body of the deceased was washed by
the boy, in compliance with the custom
OF his country.
After the body of the deceased is
washed in this manner, it is dressed in
the best clothes which belonged to the
man in his lifetime, a hat being placed
on his head, a fan in his hand, and shoes
on his feet, the idea being that he will
be clothed in these habiliments in
Elysium, and consequently that he must
appear there as respectable and
superior member of society. At inter-
walls during these and subsequent cere-
monies, gilt and silvered paper in the
shape of coin and sycee bars is burned,
in the belief that it will also pass into
the invisible world, where it will be re-
coined into solid cash; and clothes,
sedan-chairs, furniture, buffaloes and
horses, made of paper, are transferred
on the same principle to the "better
land for the benefit of the dead.
The body was now brought through
the window and placed in the coffin on
the stage at the top of the temporary
wooden structure. 1t is the practice
with the richer Chinese to keep the
coflined bodies of their relatives in their
houses for long periods, sometimes for
years. This custom was not followed
on this occasion, for the funeral took
place Immediately after the ceremony
of ''.buying the water" Large sums of
money are expended on collins by the
"celestials," and dutiful son will see
that his parents are provided with these
melancholy receptacles sometimes many
years before their death. They are
made of heavy boards four or five inches
in thickness, and rounded at the outer
joints, and appear to invariably take
the form, in this colony, of the polished
trunk of tree. Inside, they appear to
be lined with sort of mortar; the joints
are all carefully closed with a similar
substance, but small hole is drilled
through the coffin over the face of the
deceased so as to leave channel of es-
cape and entrance for the spirits.
1t was work of some difficulty to
bring the coflined body down the steep
footway from the window to the road;
but the task was finally accomplished
without mishap, amidst the renewed
wailings of the mourning-women, the
shricks of the pipe, and the belaboring
of the tom-toms. Awaiting the arrival
of the coffin in the street were some
twenty elaborately carved and lavishly
gilded sedan-chairs, constructed es-
DeClallV lOf use On SUCH OCCdSlOHS.
These chairs contained meats, fruits and
cakes-real and artificial-in profusion.
Among other articles. displayed were
two excellently cooked sucking-pigs.
Two or three altar-pieces, embiazOned
with the name and age of the deceased,
were also carried in the procession;
also banners, the deceased's tablet and
photograph, and other articles-the
bearers all being dressed more or less in
mourning costume. Before the pro-
cession started for the battle-ground at
Mount Davis, there was more wailing,
more incense burned, more shrieks from
the ''gusty pipe" and more prayers
from the priest. One Of the last acts of
the mourners was to walk round the
coffin; and then the procession moved
off, the coffin taking the last place in
the cortege.
At Mount Davis the body was con-
signed to the earth with much lamenta-
ton, incense-burning and prayer. There