the house of death,
the family being supplied by their friends. During these three days
prayers are said for the dead several times a day by priests, and
kinsmen pay short visits of condolence. On the third day a meeting
is held in the house and prayers are said for the dead; trays of
flowers and burning incense are placed before the spot where the body
lay, and a list of charitable gifts made by the family in memory of
the dead man is read. On the fourth day a feast is held specially
for priests, and friends are also asked to join in it. A little of
the food cooked on this day is sent to all relations and friends,
who make a point of eating or at least of tasting it. On the tenth
and thirtieth days after death, and on monthly anniversaries for the
first year, and subsequently on annual anniversaries, ceremonies in
honour of the dead are performed. [369]

17. Previous exposure of the dead, and migration of souls.

Some of these customs are peculiar and interesting. It has been seen
that for three days the home is impure, and no food is cooked in it
except what is given to dogs; and since on the third day offerings
are made on the spot where the body lay, it seems to be supposed
that the dead man's spirit is still there. On the fourth day is the
funeral feast, in which all relations and friends join, and after
this the house becomes pure, it being presumably held that the dead
man's spirit has taken its departure. For these three days food is
cooked in the house and given to dogs, and immediately after the
man is dead a dog is brought in to look at his face. It has been
suggested that the manner of laying out the body recalls the time
when it was simply exposed. But when it was exposed the body would
have been devoured principally by dogs and vultures, and the customs
connected with dogs seem to arise from this. The cooked food given
to dogs for three days is perhaps a substitute for the flesh of the
dead man which they would have eaten, and the display of the body to
a dog is in substitution for its being devoured by these animals, who
now that it is exposed in a tower of silence no longer have access
to it. It has further been seen how during the marriage rites,
after an invitation has been issued to the ancestors to attend,
a woman comes in barking like a dog. The other women drive her away
and laughingly eat everything they can lay their hands on, perhaps
in imitation of the way dogs devour their food. This c