The Portland daily press., 1890-01-11
JOHNS BONES.
They Are Carried Back TO Rest un-
der Celestial Mulberry Trees.
Correspondence of the Press.l

SOunticS, WulJner IneSo people nave
sought elbow room, to earn living-and
one singular fact in Johns case has been
given much prominence and used as one
strong point against him-that is the GUS
tom generally observed by these people
Of conveying the bones of their dead
back across the ocean to repose in their
native soil. The object of this trans
planting of the dead has perhaps not
been fully understood.
Aside from a sort of sentimentality
which inclines one to prefer that his
bones repose in the family cemetery near
to the bones Of his fathers, it makes but
little difference to the majority of men
what particular spot of earth receives
back their dust. Not so with the China.
man. To him this question is not one of
sentiment. Its one of welfare. He be.
lleves that after this life is over his
soul goes marching on" and its march
is retarded or assisted much by the CO.
operation of his relatives, and particu-
larly his male descendants.
The SO called ancestral worship among
the Chinese has grown out of this en-
deavor of the living to make smooth the
journey of the dead, The graves of the
dead are kept green by the male descend
ants through succeeding generations,
and this fact accounts for the great num-
bers of well marked and preserved graves
found everywhere in China.
Once every year, on a regular date,
the graves are visited and the mound of
earth, which is oval instead OF oblong as
with us, is repaired and looked after.
If the tramp Of feeding herds of cattle
or buffaloes has beaten down the little
hill, or water washed away the earth, it
is replaced and put in its original conf
form shape. By the grave thus repaired
are left dainty dishes Of boiled pork, with
rice and vegetables, and also wine, and
these remain untouched by hungry beg
CARS who pass them by, for the spirit of
the dead to feast upon. The spiritual
portion of the food only is consumed by
the spirit of the dead.
Paper clothing in gorgeous colors and
gold and silver paper tinsel, are likewise
reduced to the spirit state by being
burned and are then used by the spirits
i'll the other life. The so called GLOSS
paper" SO literally burned around the
dying couch of Cinnamon, is for this
purpose. The people think the devil, or
devils, cannot distinguish imitation from
real money, and it is to enable the dead
mans soul to bride its way through the
DEVILS kingdom in safety. 1t is the duty
of every Chinaman to perform these post
burial rites at the grave of his paternal
ancestors annually, and hence if ones
bones are left in a strangers land, where
his descendants will never be able to per-
form these rites, it is sure to have a lone
ly and unaided journey through the spirit
land. The reasons, therefore, which
prompt these people to convey their dead
comrades back to China are indeed pa
thetic.
When Celestial is sick unto death
the family resort to all manner of de-
vices, as ludicrous as Intellectual, tssavf4s-
the life of the patient. They-know hut
little of medicine or s.,Yf gerry, but thew,
seek either Is bribe or brighten away the.
spirits who are supposed to come TO con-
vey away the spirit of the dying.
Joss paper is burned in the hope that
the mercenary spirits may be satisfied
with supply of the bogus coin and
leave the patient. And if this device
fails, the most internal noise is made by
firing of heavily charged cannon or
blunderbusses, and beating of gongs and
blowing of horns, to brighten the devil
away. But all efforts fail, and the sick
dies. They then direct their efforts to-
ward securing the welfare of the dead,
as above described.
The dead are prepared for burial by
being clad in their best clothes and the
body is put into large, square wooden
coffin and packed in lime, the object Of
the lime being to absorb the gases and
water Of the decaying body and prevent
odors.
The dead are often kept unburied for
weeks, or, in some cases, years-the rea-
sons being many. The most common is
a lack of funds to carry out the pro-
gramme of paying a Taoist priest for
consulting with the spirit of the dead as
to where he wishes to be buried and for
paying the ogvner of the land in whose
field the dead may locate his grave.
have seen hundreds of unburied coffins,
each of which contained corpse, sitting
around the edge of a bamboo grove
awaiting interment. And many of the
collins had been there until they were
Drowned by the sun and rain, and rank
grass had grown up around them until
they were well hid and formed favor
lite cover for rabbits and pheasants.
The custom of filling the coffin with
lime appeared to be generally practiced,
and has been for a long time. l once
came across an opened grave near a
Chinese city and l made a startling dis
covery.
1t was that the grave had been opened,
and the lime, now further enriched by
the decayed bones, had been carried
away to fertilize growing vegetables,
and the thick planks of which the coffin
was made had been broken into small
pieces and carried away for fuel to use
in cooking food. All that remained of
the beggar whose bones had there de-
cayed in order to fertilize cabbages, was
his long braided cue. The hair was APP
parently as free from decay as the day
the man had died. 1t was about four
feet long, and braided with three
strands, and lay just where it had been
buried, no knowing how many years.
1t was q pauper's grave in "potter's
field" and no new made graves had been
there for many years. The surface of the
earth for miles around having long
since been filled with the dead.
To what extent this species of vandal-
ism was practiced l have no means of
knowing. But this instance barely at
tracted the notice of passers by, which
leads me to infer that it is not at all I'M
common. In hillside near by were the
protruding ends of coffins, which had
been uncovered by the wearing of the
earth into gullies, and when the collins
thus became exposed to light and air
they soon decayed. The cavities thus
opened became the burrows of rae
coons, gophers and other wild animals.
The graves of paupers are very shall
low. The law requires that the man
upon whose premises pauper dies shall
bury the corpse, and the job is let to o
class of men who follow the business,
and they expend as little labor as posi-
BILE for the small fee, and hence to open
this class of graves is an easy task.
The better to do people bury their OWE
dead, and it is this class of graves which
are looked after as before described. II
is common custom for those able to dc
so to have their collins made many year,
before they die, and the Buddhist temples
are used as warehouses in which they are
stored. / have seen collins thus stored