tablets, and the forms (to be observed in publishing it). Seven days after, on Kwei-yû, as chief (of the west) and premier, he ordered the (proper) officers to prepare the wood (for all the requirements of the funeral)[1].
The salvage men[2] set out the screens[3], ornamented with figures of axes, and the tents. Between the window (and the door), facing the south, they placed the (three)fold mat of fine bamboo splints, with its striped border of white and black silk, and the usual bench adorned with different-coloured gems. In the side-space on the west, which faced the east, they placed the threefold rush mat, with its variegated border, and the usual bench adorned with beautiful shells. In the side-space on the east, which faced the west, they placed the threefold mat of fine grass, with its border of painted silk, and the usual bench carved, and adorned with gems. Before the western side-chamber, and facing the south, they placed the threefold mat of fine bamboo, with its dark mixed border, and the usual lacquered bench[4].
- ↑ On the seventh day after his death the king had been shrouded and put into his coffin. But there were still the shell or outer coffin, &c., to be provided.
- ↑ These 'salvage men' were, I suppose, natives of the wild Tî tribes, employed to perform the more servile offices about the court. Some of them, we know, were enrolled among the guards.
- ↑ The screens were ornamented with figures of axe-heads, and placed behind the king, under the canopy that overshadowed him.
- ↑ All these arrangements seem to have been made in the hall where king Khăng had delivered his charge. He had been accustomed to receive his guests at all the places where the tents, screens, and mats were now set. It was presumed he would be present in spirit at the ceremony of proclaiming his son, and
