of Alaska "those who die a
natural death are carried out through a hole cut in the back of the hut
or _yarang_. This is immediately closed up, that the spirit of the dead
man may not find his way back."[747] Among the Esquimaux of Hudson Bay
"the nearest relatives on approach of death remove the invalid to the
outside of the house, for if he should die within he must not be carried
out of the door but through a hole cut in the side wall, and it must
then be carefully closed to prevent the spirit of the person from
returning."[748] Again, "when a Siamese is dead, his relations deposit
the body in a coffin well covered. They do not pass it through the door
but let it down into the street by an opening which they make in the
wall. They also carry it thrice round the house, running at the top of
their speed. They believe that if they did not take this precaution, the
dead man would remember the way by which he had passed, and that he
would return by night to do some ill turn to his family."[749] In
Travancore the body of a dead rajah "is taken out of the palace through
a breach in the wall, made for the purpose, to avoid pollution of the
gate, and afterwards built up again so that the departed spirit may not
return through the gate to trouble the survivors."[750] Among the Kayans
of Borneo, whose dwellings are raised on piles above the ground, the
coffin is conveyed out of the house by lowering it with rattans either
through the floor, planks being taken up for the purpose, or under the
eaves at the side of the gallery. "In this way they avoid carrying it
down the house-ladder; and it seems to be felt that this precaution
renders it more difficult for the ghost to find its way back to the
house."[751] Among the Cheremiss of Russia, "old custom required that
the corpse should not be carried out by the door but through a breach in
the north wall, where there is usually a sash-window. But the custom has
long been obsolete, even among the heathen, and only very old people
speak of it. They explain it as follows: to carry it out by the door
would be to shew the _Asyren_ (the dead man) the right way into the
house, whereas a breach in the wooden wall is immediately closed by
replacing the beams in position, and thus the _Asyren_ would in vain
seek for an entrance."[752] The Samoyeds never carry a corpse out of the
hut by the door, but lift up a piece of the reindeer-skin covering and
draw the body out, head foremost, through the o