The ceremony of crying, which has before been mentioned as practised
after a person's death, is not, however, altogether confined to those
melancholy occasions, but is occasionally adopted in cases of illness,
and that of no very dangerous kind. The father of a sick person enters
the apartment, and, after looking at him a few seconds without speaking,
announces by a kind of low sob his preparation for the coming ceremony.
At this signal every other individual present composes his features for
crying, and the leader of the chorus then setting up a loud and piteous
howl, which lasts about a minute, is joined by all the rest, who shed
abundant tears during the process. So decidedly is this a matter of
form, unaccompanied by any feeling of sorrow, that those who are not
relatives shed just as many tears as those that are; to which may be
added, that in the instances which we saw there was no real occasion for
crying at all. It must, therefore, be considered in the light of a
ceremony of condolence, which it would be either indecorous or unlucky
to omit.
I have already given several instances of the little care these people
take in the interment of their dead, especially in the winter season; it
is certain, however, that this arises from some superstitious notion,
and particularly from the belief that any heavy weight upon the corpse
would have an injurious effect upon the deceased in a future state of
existence; for even in the summer, when it would be an easy matter to
secure a body from the depredations of wild animals, the mode of burial
is not essentially different.
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