arge communal house
in which the people dwell; and if the attendants begin to fear a fatal
issue, the whole household is thrown into consternation. All the men,
from the chief down to the boys, will flee from the house, or, if it is
night, they will clamber up among the beams of the roof and there hide
in terror; and, if the worst happens, they remain there until the
woman's corpse has been removed from the house for burial.[764]

[Sidenote: Sometimes the custom is observed when the original motive for
it is forgotten.]

Sometimes, while the custom continues to be practised, the idea which
gave rise to it has either become obscured or has been incorrectly
reported. Thus we are told that when a death has taken place among the
Indians of North-west America "the body is at once taken out of the
house through an opening in the wall from which the boards have been
removed. It is believed that his ghost would kill every one if the body
were to stay in the house."[765] Such a belief, while it would furnish
an excellent reason for hurrying the corpse out of the house as soon as
possible, does not explain why it should be carried out through a
special opening instead of through the door. Again, when a Queen of Bali
died, "the body was drawn out of a large aperture made in the wall to
the right-hand side of the door, in the absurd opinion of _cheating the
devil_, whom these islanders believe to lie in wait in the ordinary
passage."[766] Again, in Mukden, the capital of Manchuria, the corpses
of children "must not be carried out of a door or window, but through a
new or disused opening, in order that the evil spirit which causes the
disease may not enter. The belief is that the Heavenly Dog which eats
the sun at an eclipse demands the bodies of children, and that if they
are denied to him he will bring certain calamity on the household."[767]
These explanations of the custom are probably misinterpretations adopted
at a later time when its original meaning was forgotten. For a custom
often outlives the memory of the motives which gave it birth. And as
royalty is very conservative of ancient usages, it would be no matter
for surprise if the corpses of kings should continue to be carried out
through special openings long after the bodies of commoners were allowed
to be conveyed in commonplace fashion through the ordinary door. In
point of fact we find the old custom observed by kings in countries
where it has apparently ceased to be