hite hair-cloth, almost like silk, they wrapped the body
round and round. They made a large carriage-frame, in form like our
funeral car, but without the dragons and fishes.

At the time of the cremation, the king and the people, in multitudes
from all quarters, collected together, and presented offerings of
flowers and incense. While they were following the car to the
burial-ground, the king himself presented flowers and incense. When this
was finished, the car was lifted on the pile, all over which oil of
sweet basil was poured, and then a light was applied. While the fire was
blazing, every one, with a reverent heart, pulled off his upper garment,
and threw it, with his feather-fan and umbrella, from a distance into
the midst of the flames, to assist the burning. When the cremation was
over, they collected and preserved the bones, and proceeded to erect a
tope. Fa-hien had not arrived in time to see the distinguished Shaman
alive, and only saw his burial.

At that time the king, who was a sincere believer in the Law of Buddha
and wished to build a new vihara for the monks, first convoked a great
assembly. After giving the monks a meal of rice, and presenting his
offerings on the occasion, he selected a pair of first-rate oxen, the
horns of which were grandly decorated with gold, silver, and the
precious substances. A golden plough had been provided, and the king
himself turned up a furrow on the four sides of the ground within which
the building was to be. He then endowed the community of the monks with
the population, fields, and houses, writing the grant on plates of
metal, to the effect that from that time onwards, from generation to
generation, no one should venture to annul or alter it.

In this country Fa-hien heard an Indian devotee, who was reciting a
Sutra from the pulpit, say: "Buddha's alms-bowl was at first in Vaisali,
and now it is in Gandhara. After so many hundred years (he gave, when
Fa-hien heard him, the exact number of years, but he has forgotten it),
it will go to Western Tukhara; after so many hundred years, to Khoten;
after so many hundred years, to Kharachar; after so many hundred years,
to the land of Han; after so many hundred years, it will come to
Sinhala; and after so many hundred years, it will return to Central
India. After that, it will ascend to the Tushita heaven; and when the
Bodhisattva Maitreya sees it, he will say with a sigh, 'The alms-bowl of
Sakyamuni Buddha is come'; and wit