The national rule is, that the corpse of a Laotian mandarin shall be preserved for several days in its shroud within the proper mortuary-hut. Friends and kinsmen assemble therein, and console themselves as best they may with abundant eating and drinking; a custom which prevails elsewhere than in Laos! It does not appear that the Laotians regard death with any particular apprehension. Their special anxiety is to prevent the evil spirits from obtaining possession of the souls of the dead, and playing them malignant tricks. During the day these spirits will not attempt anything; but at night they gain courage, and to shelter the deceased from their manœuvres seems to be no easy task. However, by means of numerous prayers, and more particularly by keeping up a tremendous clamour, it is generally possible, the Laotians believe, to avert their disastrous influence. For this purpose all the bonzes of the neighbourhood are summoned; and taking up positions around the bier, they chant aloud their invocations. By day, and especially by night, the family assist them in keeping watch. The women decorate the coffin with floral offerings, as well as with ornaments of wax intended to facilitate combustion. The men, armed with gongs, tomtoms, and any other instrument they can seize upon, accompany, as noisily as possible, the chants of the bonzes. “Harmony” is not the object aimed at; but to secure the maximum of noise. When the day appointed for the final ceremony arrives, the uproar is redoubled at early morn, as a signal to the friends and relatives of the departed, who make their appearance in full costume. ~THE FUNERAL PROCESSION.~ A procession is then arranged for the purpose of carrying the corpse to the place of burning. The bonzes lead the way, the seniors coming last. Then follows the coffin, supported on the shoulders of a dozen young men, and surmounted by a kind of bamboo canopy, embellished with flowers and foliage, and destined, like the coffin, to be consumed on the funeral pyre. The men march next, with the wealthiest and most influential of the kinsmen of the deceased at their head. The rear is brought up by the women and children, carrying long bamboos ornamented with banderoles of various colours, which are planted in the ground during the process of cremation. ~THE FUNERAL PYRE.~