Both requisites were fortunately united in the person of the queen-mother of King Pra-Nang-Klau. At the funeral of this aged queen there was such a display of Oriental magnificence as rarely falls to the lot of Western eyes to witness. The embalmed body lay in state under a golden canopy for eight months; the myrrh, frankincense, and aromatic oils used in its preparation cost upwards of one thousand pounds, and the golden pyre above twenty thousand. The hangings were of the richest silks and velvets, trimmed with bullion fringe and costly lace, and the wrappings of the body of pure white silk, embroidered with pearls and precious stones. Incredible quantities of massive jewellery decked the shrunken corpse, and a diadem of glittering gems cast its prismatic radiance over the withered features. Tiny golden lamps, fed with perfumed oil, burned day and night around the pyre, while every portion of the vast saloon was decorated with rare and beautiful flowers, arranged in all the various forms of crowns, sceptres, temples, angels, birds, lanterns, wreaths, and arches, till Flora herself might have wondered at the boundless resources of her domain. Day and night musical instruments were played, dirges wailed forth, and prostrations perpetually performed; while twice every day the king, attended by his whole court, made offerings to the departed spirit, beat his breast, tore his hair, and declared life 'utterly unendurable without the beloved one.' All this was kept up for eight months, and then the scene changed for one of festivity. For thirty days, during most of which time I was present, there was a succession of _levées_, concerts, and theatricals, with feats of jugglery, operas, and fireworks; and then the embalmed body, surrounded by perfumes and tiny faggots of sandal-wood, was consumed by fire, and the ashes collected by the high-priest or his deputy in a golden urn, and deposited, with other relics of royalty, in the king's palace. How very different from the above is a cremation amongst the North American Indians (the Cocopa tribe), on the Colorado river! Here is an account of one published in a late New York paper by an eyewitness, Professor Le Conte.