Coming to the cortege itselfi—and an explanatory word. Hochow custom has it that avery corpse for interment, instead of being conveyed by the most direct and nearest way to the grave, is carried, first of all, through the main thoroughfare in the city and then on to the burial ground. The reason is plain—to make a show. This certainly was the case in the Hsu funeral. The line of formation, as it slowly wended up the main street, was as follows:—Military band, paper soldiers, four incense stands followed by two carts and a sodom chair—one of the carts being paper-made. In the sedan chair rode a little grandson clasping in his hands what was supposed to. the spirit of the grandmother, embodied, as it were, in the form of a photograph. Then came infantry and at their backs 44 banners,-a small forest' to behold; next, mounted cavalry, and five literati on foot. Again foot soldiers, 62 tablets each inscribed with words of encomium of the dead woman,- infantry, mourning relations, policemen,, the county magistrate seated on. a cart and a large' company of sympathizing friends of various walks in life.
Next appeared the coffin with the body, enclosed in an outer shell, while men trudged on behind what is termed the large coffin, the last case or covering having already been taken in advance. To sum up, there were layers to the coffin which, put into romanized Chinese, are called kuan tsar, knob, ta, tei, tu chao.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.