his family to plan a sumptuous
funeral. It is said to have cost them thirty thousand dollars. We
arrived in Penang just in time to see the show. All the way from
Singapore, indeed, we were accompanied on our steamer by a fine brass
band, which was only one of three brass bands hired to furnish music
for the funeral service.

My powers of description fail, when I attempt to tell the wonders of a
funeral procession fully a half mile long. It was headed by a symbolic
float of waxwork figures, in which a colossal horse, prancing on its
hind legs, seemed just about to soar into the air. The horse was held in
by four angelic forms following and holding in their hands scepters of
royalty. This apparition reminded me of the horses and chariot in which
Elijah ascended to heaven, and it seemed to indicate that the deceased
had departed with all the honors heaven and earth could bestow. A band
of music accompanying the float, and playing solemn but not mournful
strains, gave color to this interpretation. A retinue of sedan-chairs,
decorated with all the colors of the rainbow, came next in order. These
sedan-chairs were empty of occupants, and contained long strips of red
paper on which were written the names and merits of the millionaire's
ancestors, to be read by Buddhist priests at the grave. The chairs were
each the gift of some relative or friend of the departed. They
symbolized the welcome given him by those who had gone before him to the
better land. A second band of music was followed by a body-guard of
British soldiers in khaki, deputed by the British governor to show his
estimate of the character and loyalty of the deceased.

Then came the hearse, if hearse it could be called. It was really an
enormous catafalque, decorated with gold tinsel and costly embroideries.
Peacocks and birds of paradise were depicted on its silken hangings. A
dozen men, in elaborate robes of blue, carried this gaudy structure upon
their shoulders, while other gorgeously attired attendants bore great
ribbon-banners of satin, say twenty feet long by four feet wide and of
the most brilliant colors, inscribed with Chinese characters and making
known the virtues of the departed. But the most curious part of the
procession, was yet to come. Preceded by the third band of music were
the offerings of food and drinks which were to furnish sustenance to the
spirit in the world into which he had now entered. There were six
roasted sucking-pigs, laid in orde