NOTE 5.—­Even among the Tibetans and Mongols burning is only one of the modes of disposing of the dead.  “They sometimes bury their dead:  often they leave them exposed in their coffins, or cover them with stones, paying regard to the sign under which the deceased was born, his age, the day and hour of his death, which determine the mode in which he is to be interred (or otherwise disposed of).  For this purpose they consult some books which are explained to them by the Lamas.” (Timk. II. 312.) The extraordinary and complex absurdities of the books in question are given in detail by Pallas, and curiously illustrate the paragraph in the text.  (See Sammlungen, II. 254 seqq.) ["The first seven days, including that on which the demise has taken place, are generally deemed to be lucky for the burial, especially the odd ones.  But when they have elapsed, it becomes requisite to apply to a day-professor....  The popular almanac which chiefly wields sway in Amoy and the surrounding country, regularly stigmatises a certain number of days as ting-sng jit:  ’days of reduplication of death,’ because encoffining or burying a dead person on such a day will entail another loss in the family shortly afterwards.” (De Groot, I. 103, 99-100.)—­H.  C.]

NOTE 6.—­The Chinese have also, according to Duhalde, a custom of making a new opening in the wall of a house by which to carry out the dead; and in their prisons a special hole in the wall is provided for this office.  This same custom exists among the Esquimaux, as well as, according to Sonnerat, in Southern India, and it used to exist in certain parts both of Holland and of Central Italy.  In the “clean village of Broek,” near Amsterdam, those special doors may still be seen.  And in certain towns of Umbria, such as Perugia, Assisi, and Gubbio, this opening was common, elevated some feet above the ground, and known as the “Door of the Dead.”

I find in a list, printed by Liebrecht, of popular French superstitions, amounting to 479 in number, condemned by Maupas du Tour, Bishop of Evreux in 1664, the following:  “When a woman lies in of a dead child, it must not be taken out by the door of the chamber but by the window, for if it were taken out by the door the woman would never lie in of any but dead children.”  The Samoyedes have the superstition mentioned in the text, and act exactly as Polo describes.

["The body [of the Queen of Bali, 17th century] 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.” (John Crawfurd, Hist. of the Indian Archipelago, II. p. 245.)—­H.  C.]