the whole body.  Thus prepared, many bodies have been found uncorrupted after a lapse of many years; but they did not place the corpses in the earth, but in their dwellings, enclosed in coffins of the hardest wood, incorruptible, and with the cover so fitted that it was impossible for the air to enter.  Moreover, they placed gold in the mouths of the corpses, and laid with them many articles of value; and thus they buried them, under the house, richly adorned, and with the corpse another chest, containing garments.  Besides this, they usually were careful to carry to the burial various viands, which they left there for the dead person.  In former times, they would not let them depart to the other world alone, but gave male and female slaves to accompany the dead.  These slaves, having first eaten a hearty meal, were then immediately killed, that they might go with the dead man.  It once happened that they buried with a chief a vessel manned by many rowers, who were to serve him in his voyages in the other world.  The usual place of burial was the dead man’s own house, at least in the lower part—­where a great pit was dug, in which the coffin was placed.  A small railing was constructed about the pit, and, leaving it open, they placed inside the food which they brought.  Others buried their bodies in the open field, and for several days burned fires beneath their houses and set guards, so that the dead man might not return and carry away with him those whom he had left.

After the burial the mourning ceased, but not the feasting and intoxication, which lasted more or less time according to the rank of the deceased.  The widow or widower, and the orphans and other relatives who felt most keenly their grief, expressed their sorrow by fasting, abstaining from meat, fish, and other viands—­eating during this period only vegetables, and those in very small quantities.  Among the Tagalos the color for mourning is black, and among the Bissayans white.  The latter also tear out their hair and eyebrows, which makes them ugly indeed.  Upon the death of a chief, silence must be observed in the village during the period of mourning, until the interdict was raised—­a longer or shorter time, according to his rank; and during that time no sound of a blow or other noise might be heard in any house under penalty of some misfortune.  In order to secure this quiet, the villages on the coast placed a sign on the banks of the river, giving notice that no one might travel on that stream, or enter or leave it, under penalty of death—­which they forcibly inflicted, with the utmost cruelty, upon whomsoever should break this silence.  Those who died in war were extolled in their dirges, and in the obsequies which were celebrated the sacrifices made to or for them lasted for a long time, accompanied by much feasting and intoxication.  If the deceased had met death by violence, whether in war or in peace, by treachery, or in some other way, the mourning habits were not removed, or the interdict lifted, until the