Asia -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; Mongols -- History; Polo, Marco, 1254-1323?; Voyages and travels
Regarding the burning of the dead, Mr. Phillips (_T’oung Pao_, VI.
p. 454) quotes the following passage from a notice by M. Jaubert.
“The town of Zaitun is situated half a day’s journey inland from
the sea. At the place where the ships anchor, the water is fresh.
The people drink this water and also that of the wells. Zaitun is
30 days’ journey from Khanbaligh. The inhabitants of this town burn
their dead either with Sandal, or Brazil wood, according to their
means; they then throw the ashes into the river.” Mr. Phillips
adds: “The custom of burning the dead is a long established one in
Fuh-Kien, and does not find much favour among the upper classes. It
exists even to this day in the central parts of the province. The
time for cremation is generally at the time of the Tsing-Ming. At
the commencement of the present dynasty the custom of burning the
dead appears to have been pretty general in the Fuchow Prefecture;
it was looked upon with disfavour by many, and the gentry
petitioned the Authorities that proclamations forbidding it should
be issued. It was thought unfilial for children to cremate their
parents; and the practice of gathering up the bones of a partially
cremated person and thrusting them into a jar, euphoniously called
a Golden Jar, but which was really an earthen one, was much
commented on, as, if the jar was too small to contain all the
bones, they were broken up and put in, and many pieces got thrown
aside. In the Changchow neighbourhood, with which we have here most
to do, it was a universal custom in 1126 to burn the dead, and was
in existence for many centuries after.” (See note, _supra_, II. p.
134.)
Captain Gill, speaking of the country near the Great Wall, writes
(I. p. 61): [“The Chinese] consider mutton very poor food, and the
butchers’ shops are always kept by Mongols. In these, however, both
beef and mutton can be bought for 3_d._ or 4_d._ a lb., while pork,
which is considered by the Chinese as the greatest delicacy, sells
for double the price.”—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Che-kiang produces bamboos more abundantly than any
province of Eastern China. Dr. Medhurst mentions meeting, on the
waters near Hang-chau, with numerous rafts of bamboos, one of which
was one-third of a mile in length. (_Glance at Int. of China_, p.
53.)
NOTE 3.—Assuming Tanpiju to be Shao-hing, the remaining places as
far as the Fo-kien Frontier run thus:—
3 days to Vuju (P. _Vugui_, G. T. _Vugui, Vuigui_, Ram. _Uguiu_).
2 „ to Ghiuju (P. _Guiguy_, G. T. _Ghingui, Ghengui, Chengui_,
Ram. _Gengui_).
4 „ to Changshan (P. _Ciancian_, G. T. _Cianscian_, Ram.
_Zengian_).
3 „ to Cuju or Chuju (P. _Cinguy_, G. T. _Cugui_, Ram. _Gieza_).
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