_Né ro_ _tsharéyn_ _baráye_. Do not weep waterfall’s fairy. _Né ro_ _teyn_ _róng_ _boje_. Do not weep thy colour will go. _Né ro_ _jaro_ _shidati_. Do not weep brethren’s beloved. _Né ro_ _téy_ _róng_ _boje_. Do not weep thy colour will go. _Né ro_ _maleyn_ _shidati_. Do not weep father’s beloved. _Né ro_ _téy_ _róng_ _boje_. Do not weep thy colour will go. _Translation._ Come out, O daughter of the hawk! Come out, why dost thou delay? Come forth from thy father’s tent, Come out and do not delay. Weep not! O fairy of the waterfall! Weep not! thy colour will fade; Weep not! thou art the beloved of us all who are thy brethren, Weep not! thy colour will fade. O Weep not! thou beloved of fathers, [or “thy father’s darling.”] For if thou weepest, thy face will grow pale. Then the young man catches hold of her dress, or in Gilgit of her arm, puts her on horseback, and rides off with her, heedless of her tears and of those of her companions. E. FUNERALS. Funerals are conducted in a very simple manner. The custom of eating grapes at funerals I have already touched upon in my allusion to Dureyl in the chapter on “Wine.” Bread is commonly distributed together with Ghî, etc., three days after the funeral, to people in general, a custom which is called “Nashí” by the Astóris, and “Khatm” by the Gilgitis. When a person is dead, the Mulla, assisted generally by a near friend of the deceased, washes the body which is then placed in a shroud. Women assemble, weep and relate the virtues of the deceased. The body is conveyed to the grave the very day of the decease. In Astor there is something in the shape of a bier for conveying the dead. At Gilgit two poles, across which little bits of wood are placed sideways and then fastened, serve for the same purpose. The persons who carry the body think it a meritorious act. The women accompany the body for some fifty yards and then return to the house to weep. The body is then placed in the earth which has been dug up to admit of its interment. Sometimes the grave is well-cemented and a kind of small vault is made over it with pieces of wood closely jammed together. A Pîr or saint receives a hewn stone standing as a sign-post from the tomb. I have seen no inscriptions anywhere. The tomb of one of their famous saints at Gilgit has none. I have heard people there say that he was killed at that place in order to provide the country with a shrine. My Gilgiti who, like all his countrymen, was very patriotic, denied it, but I heard it at Gilgit from several persons, among whom was one of the descendants of the saint. As the Saint was a Kashmiri, the veracity of his descendant may be doubted. To return to the funeral. The body is conveyed to the cemetery, which is generally at some distance from the village, accompanied by friends.