where the dying one was removed outside on account of the superstitious fears of the family.
When the coffin is carried off, it is not through a door or window, but a hole is cut in the bamboo wall, and sometimes the bearers run around the house two or three times, lest the spirit should find its way back and haunt the premises.
The cremation takes place in some temple-ground where there is a permanent P'ramene. But occasionally the dying "make merit" by bequeathing their dead body to the vultures. In such cases the flesh is cut off with a knife and fed to these birds of prey, which haunt the burning-localities in great numbers, and the bones only are burned. Paupers and criminals are thus fed to the vultures or burned without ceremony. All persons struck dead by lightning or carried off suddenly by small-pox or cholera are first buried for some months, and then dug up and burned.
The funerals of the wealthy last several days, and are connected with feasting, fireworks and theatrical displays. The garb of mourning in Siam is white, not black, and is accompanied with shaving of the heads of all the immediate family and their servants.
