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SANG TA KI.
assumed the staff, and his wife also. The same observances as in the rites for a Great officer were observed on messages arriving from the ruler or his wife, or from a Great officer and his confirmed wife.
22. All the sons assumed the staff, but only the eldest son used it when they were going to their places (in the apartment where the coffin was). Great officers and other officers, when wailing by the coffin, used the staff; when wailing by the bier, they carried it in their hands. When the staff (used in mourning) was thrown away, it was broken and thrown away in secret.
23. As soon as death took place, the corpse was transferred to the couch, and covered with a large sheet. The clothes in which the deceased had died
SECT. I.
181
were removed. A servant plugged the mouth open with the spoon of horn; and to keep the feet from contracting, an easy stool was employed'. These observances were the same for a ruler, a Great officer, and an ordinary officer 3.
24. The servant in charge of the apartments drew the water, and without removing the well-rope from the bucket gathered it up, and carried the whole up to the top of the steps. There, without going on the hall, he gave it to the attendants in waiting on the body. These then went in to wash the corpse, four
1 When death seemed to be imminent, the body was removed from the couch and laid on the ground;-if, perhaps, contact with 'mother' earth might revive it. When death had taken place, it was replaced on the couch.
? I do not quite understand how this stool was applied so as to accomplish its purpose.
* This paragraph is the 24th in the Khien-lung edition. See below, paragraph 26.
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