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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
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MARCO POLO LOOK I.
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before the coffin whilst it is so kept, the burning of paper and papier-maché figures of slaves, horses, etc., at the tomb. Chinese settlers were very numerous at Shachau and the neighbouring Kwachau, even in the loth century. (Ritter, II. 213.) [" Keeping a body unburied for a considerable time is called kling koan, ` to conceal or store away a coffin,' or thing koan, ` to detain a coffin.' It is, of course, a matter of necessity in such cases to have the cracks and fissures, and especially the seam where the case and- the lid join, hermetically caulked. This is done by means of a mixture of chunam and oil. The seams, sometimes even the whole coffin, are pasted over with linen, and finally everything is varnished black, or, in case of a mandarin of rank, red. In process of time, the varnishing is repeated as many times as the family think desirable or necessary. And in order to protect the coffin still better against dust and moisture, it is generally covered with sheets of oiled paper, over which comes a white hall." (De Groot, I. io6.)—H. C.] Even as regards the South of China many of the circumstances mentioned here are strictly applicable, as may be seen in Doolittle's Social Life of the Chinese. (See, for example, p. 135 ; also Astley, IV. 93-95, or Marsden's quotations from Duhalde.) The custom of burning the dead has been for several centuries disused in China, but we shall see hereafter that Polo represents it as general in his time. On the custom of burning gilt paper in the form of gold coin, as well as of paper clothing, paper houses, furniture, slaves, etc., see also Medhurst, p. 213, and Kidd, 177-178. No one who has read Père Huc will forget his ludicrous account of the Lama's charitable distribution of paper
horses for the good of disabled travellers. The manufacture of mock money is a large
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business in Chinese cities. In Fuchau there are more than thirty large establishments
where it is kept for sale. (Doolittle, 541.) [The Chinese believe that sheets of paper, partly tinned over on one side, are, " according to the prevailing conviction, turned by the process of fire into real silver currency available in the world of darkness, and sent there through the smoke to the soul ; they are called gz2n-tsoá, ` silver paper.' Most families prefer to previously fold every sheet in the shape of a hollow ingot, a ` silver ingot,' gz2n-khò, as they call it. This requires a great amount of labour and time, but increases the value of the treasure immensely." (De Groot, I. 25.) " Presenting paper money when paying a visit of condolence is a custom firmly established, and accordingly complied with by everybody with great strictness . . . . The paper is designed for the equipment of the coffin, and, accordingly, always denoted by the term koan-tliaô-tsoá, ' coffin paper.' But as the receptacle of the dead is, of course, not spacious enough to hold the whole mass offered by so many friends, it is regularly burned by lots by the side of the corpse, the ashes being carefully collected to be afterwards wrapped in paper and placed in the coffin, or at the side of the coffin, in the tomb." (De Groot, I. 31-32.)—H. C.] There can be little doubt that these latter customs are symbols of the ancient sacrifices of human beings and valuable property on such occasions ; so Manetho states that the Egyptians in days of yore used human sacrifices, but a certain King Amosis abolished them and substituted
images of wax. Even when the present Manchu Dynasty first occupied the throne of
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China, they still retained the practice of human sacrifice. At the death of Kanghi's
mother, however, in 1718, when four young girls offered themselves for sacrifice on the tomb of their mistress, the emperor would not allow it, and prohibited for the future the sacrifice of life or the destruction of valuables on such occasions. (Deg uib nes, Voy. I. 3o4.)
NOTE 5.—Even among the Tibetans and Mongols burning is only one of the modes of disposing of the dead. " They sometimes bury their dead : often they leave them exposed in their coffins, or cover them with stones, paying regard to the sign under which the deceased was born, his age, the day and hour of his death, which determine the mode in which he is to be interred (or otherwise disposed of). For this purpose they consult some books which are explained to them by the Lamas." ( Ti»nk. II. 312. ) The extraordinary and complex absurdities of the books in question are given in detail by Pallas, and curiously illustrate the paragraph in the text. (See Sammlungen, II.
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