“ During the passing of the spirit there is complete silence. The under garments of the dead are taken out by a servant, who waves them in the air and calls him by name, the relations and friends meantime wailing loudly. After a time the clothes are thrown upon the roof. When the corpse has been temporarily dressed, it is bound so tightly round the chest as sometimes to break the shoulder blades, which is interpreted as a sign of gook luck. After these last offices a table is placed outside the door, on which are three bowls of rice and a squash. ”

“ A Korean gentleman told me that his nephew, upon whom this duty falls, spends more upon it than upon his household expenses.
It is not till the three years' mourning for a father has expired that his tablet is removed to the ancestral temple which rich men have near their houses. During the period of mourning it is kept in a vacant room, usually in the women's apartments. A poor man puts it in a box on one side of his room, and when he worships his other ancestors, strips of paper with their names upon them are pasted on the mud wall. ”

“ Later we met an- other funeral, the corpse carried as before on a platform by twelve bearers, who moved to a rhythmic chant of the most cheerful description, the whole party being as jolly as if they were going to a marriage. There was a cross in front of the gay hearse with an extended dragon on each arm, and four large gaily painted birds resembling pheasants were on the dome.
Korean customs as to death and burial deserve a brief notice. When a man or woman falls ill, the mu-tang or sorceress is called in to exorcise the spirit which has caused the illness. ”

“ It is carried back with exactly the same style and attendance that the dead man would have had had he been living, for the third soul is supposed to return to the house with the mourners, and to take up its abode in the tablet, which is placed in a vacant room and raised on a black lacquer chair with a black lacquer table before it, on which renewed offerings are made of bread, wine, cooked meat, and vermicelli soup, the spirit being supposed to regale itself with their odors. The mourners again prostrate themselves five times, after which they eat the offerings in an adjoining room. ”

“ On the lower slopes, and usually in close proximity to the timber, are numerous villages, their groups of deep-eaved, brown-thatched roofs, on which scarlet capsicums were laid out to dry, looking pretty enough as adjuncts to landscapes which on the whole lack life and emphasis. The villages through which the road passes were seen at their best, for the roadway, serving for the village threshing floor, was daily swept for the threshing of rice and millet, the passage of travellers being a secondary consideration ”

“ He also chooses an auspicious day for the burial.
In the case of a rich man, the grave with a stone altar in front of it is prepared beforehand, in that of a poor man not till the procession arrives. The coffin is placed in a gaily deco- rated hearse, and with wailing, music, singing, wine, food, and if in the evening, with many colored lanterns, the cortege pro- ceeds to the grave. A widow may accompany her husband's corpse in a closed chair, though this appears unusual, but the mourners are all men in immense hats, which conceal their faces, and sackcloth clothing. ”

“ If she has no son she acts the part of a son in performing the ancestral rites for her husband. It has not been correct for widows to remarry. If, however, a widow inherits property she occasionally marries to rid herself of importunities, in which case she is usually robbed and deserted. ”

“ Korean custom enjoins that burial shall be delayed in the case of a poor man three days only, in that of a middle-class man nine days, of a nobleman or high official three months, and in that of one of the Royal Family nine months, but this period may be abridged or extended at the pleasure of the King.
Man is supposed to have three souls. After death one occupies the tablet, one the grave, and one the Unknown. ”

“ I had my mattress laid upon the hot floor, and as Im, by in- stinct, secured privacy for me by fastening up mats and cur- tains over the paper walls and doors, these midday halts were very pleasant. Almost every house in these roadside villages and small towns has a low table of such food as Koreans love laid out under the eaves. ”

“ Until the funeral there is wailing daily in the dead man's house at the three hours of meals. Next the geomancer is consulted about the site for the grave, and receives a fee heavy in proportion to the means of the family. He is believed from long study to have become acquainted with all the good and bad influences which are said to reside in the ground. A fortunate site brings rank, wealth, and many sons to the sons and grandsons of the deceased, and should be, if possible, on the southerly slope of a hill. ”

“ They are supposed to be relics of the very early days of Korean Buddhism, when men were religious enough to toil at such stupendous works, and to represent the male and female elements in nature. They are side by side. ”

“ After a time one becomes ** inspired " by the spirit of the dead man, and accurately im- personates him, even to his small tricks of manner, movement, and speech. She gives a narrative of his life in the first per- son singular, if he were a bad man confessing his misdeeds, which may have been unsuspected by his neighbors, and if he were a good man, narrating his virtues with becoming modesty. ”

“ When this fails and death becomes imminent, in the case of a man no women are allowed to remain in the room but his nearest female relations, and in that of a woman all men must withdraw except her husband, father, and brother. ”

“ Though engaged by the day, they were ready to make long day's journeys, were always willing and helpful, and a month later we parted excellent friends. As this is my second favorable experience, I am inclined to til ink that Korean inapii are a maligned class. For each pony and man, the food of both being included, I paid ^i, about 2S., per day when travelling, and half that sum when halting. Mr. Yi had two ponies, I two baggage animals, on one of which Im rode, and a saddle pony, i.e. ”