Such, indeed, they have come to be in many countries after
surviving the phase of culture in which they originated; but
there is ample evidence to show that at the outset they were
presented in the belief that their ghosts would be eaten or
otherwise employed by the ghost of the dead man. The stout
club which is buried with the dead Fiji sends its soul along
with him that he may be able to defend himself against the
hostile ghosts which will lie in ambush for him on the road to
Mbulu, seeking to kill and eat him. Sometimes the club is
afterwards removed from the grave as of no further use, since
its ghost is all that the dead man needs. In like manner, "as
the Greeks gave the dead man the obolus for Charon's toll, and
the old Prussians furnished him with spending money, to buy
refreshment on his weary journey, so to this day German
peasants bury a corpse with money in his mouth or hand," and
this is also said to be one of the regular ceremonies of an
Irish wake. Of similar purport were the funeral feasts and
oblations of food in Greece and Italy, the "rice-cakes made
with ghee" destined for the Hindu sojourning in Yama's
kingdom, and the meat and gruel offered by the Chinaman to the
manes of his ancestors. "Many travellers have described the
imagination with which the Chinese make such offerings.
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