It would be extremely interesting to trace to their sources all the various rites and ceremonies connected with our principal subject, of every nation, savage or civilised, ancient or modern; but the task would be quite beyond my limits. A thorough investigation of the matter, assisted very materially by a systematic investigation of that mine of curious information, Picard's famous "_Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples_", which contains so many original letters from missionaries of the 16th and 17th Centuries, obliges me to come to the conclusion that there is, after all, not so much variety in the funereal ceremonies of the world as we imagine. Those of the Chinese and Japanese resemble in many ways, very strikingly too, the ceremonies which the Roman Catholics employ to this day: there are the same long processions of priests and officials; and Picard shows us a sketch of a very grand burial at Pekin, in 1675, in which we behold the body of the Emperor of the Celestials stretched upon a bier covered with deep violet satin, and surrounded by many lighted candles; prayers were said for the repose of the soul; and, as all the world knows, the costumes of the priests of Buddha are supposed to have undergone, together with their creed and ritual, a great change in the early part of the 17th Century, owing to the extraordinary influence of the Jesuit missionaries who followed St. Francis Xavier into India and Japan. The Japanese cremated their dead and preserved the ashes; the Chinese buried theirs; but the Cingalese, after burning the body, scattered the ashes to the winds; whilst a sect of Persians exposed their dead upon the top of high towers, and permitted the birds of prey to perform the duty which we assign to the gravedigger. Cemeteries existed in the East at a remote epoch, and were rendered so beautiful with handsome mausoleums, groves of stately cypresses and avenues of lovely rose bushes, that they are now used as public promenades. On certain days of the year multitudes resort to them for purposes of prayer, and the Armenian Christians illuminate theirs with lamps and tapers on the annual feast of the commemoration of the departed. Perhaps India possesses the most elegant tombs in the world, mainly built by the sovereigns of the Mongol dynasty. None among them is so sumptuous as the mausoleum of Taj Mahal, situated about a mile outside the port of Agra. It was built by Shah Jehan for himself and his wife Arjimand Banoo, surnamed Mumtaz Mahal; 20,000 men were employed for 20 years erecting it. It is constructed of the purest white marble, relieved with precious stones. In the interior is the sepulchral apartment, which is chiefly decorated with lapis lazuli. The tombs of the Emperor and Empress, which stand under the dome, are covered with costly Indian shawls of green cashmere, heavily embroidered with gold.