After the dead body has been laid out, this singular custom is observed in many families. Sometimes those families which have no married or betrothed daughters do not practice it on the death of its head. The married daughters are expected then to return home. [Illustration: CEREMONY OF TURNING AROUND THE BRIDGE LADDER.] Several Taoist priests are employed to prepare the “bridge-ladder” and aid in the celebration of the ceremony at the expense of the son-in-law or sons-in-law of the deceased. A post seven or eight feet high is placed in a socket or frame standing on the ground. Into holes made in the sides of this post are fastened several bamboos two or three feet long. These sticks project outward and upward a little from the post. Sometimes these sticks amount to several tens. The longer ones are placed toward the bottom and the shorter ones toward the top, the lowest tier being three or four feet from the ground. At the extreme outer end of each is suspended by a wire a kind of glass cup containing oil and wicking, the whole constituting a lamp. On the top of the post is placed a candle. Into a hole, about three feet from the ground, made in the upright post, is inserted a pole projecting at a right-angle, some two or three feet longer than the longest of the sticks having lamps at their ends. This “bridge ladder,” is placed in the middle of the room. On one side of the room is placed a table having candles and incense on it. On the wall or partition of the room by this table are suspended one or two large paper hangings, relating to the infernal regions. The body of the deceased is lying on one side of the room, or, if there is an adjoining room which can be used it is placed in that. When everything is ready, the ceremony is commenced by lighting the lamps and candle on the “bridge-ladder,” as well as the candles and incense on the table. The priests chant their liturgy amid the noise of cymbals. The married daughter comes forward, having a white cotton cloth bound about her head, partially concealing her eyes, or she holds to her eyes a white cotton cloth much as one would a handkerchief while crying. The eldest son of the deceased, if there be a living son, now advances and taking hold of the end of the long pole pushes gently against it. The post turning on its socket, the entire “bridge-ladder” moves. The wife of the eldest son, his younger brothers and their wives, the married daughter of the deceased and her children, etc., now follow, slowly, the elder brother as he turned around the “bridge-ladder” for a few times.