His eyes were
fixed and staring, and his face deadly pale, presenting altogether a
most pitiable and wretched spectacle.
Last of all, we were conducted to the garden, where the bonzes, at
their death, are burnt--a particular mark of distinction, as all
other people are interred. A simple mausoleum, about thirty feet
square, and a few small private monuments, were all that was to be
seen. None of them had any pretensions to elegance, being built of
the simplest masonry. In the former of these edifices are preserved
the bones of the persons who have been burnt, and among them are
also buried the rich Chinese, whose heirs pay pretty handsomely to
obtain such an honour for them. At a little distance stands a small
tower, eight feet in diameter and eighteen in height, with a small
pit, where a fire can be kindled, in the floor. Over this pit is an
armchair, to which the deceased bonze is fastened in full costume.
Logs and dry brushwood are disposed all round, and the whole is set
fire to, and the doors closed. In an hour they are again opened,
the ashes strewed around the tower, and the bones preserved until
the period for opening the mausoleum, which is only once every year.
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