At their funerals the corpse is carried to the place of interment on a broad plank, which is kept for the public service of the dusun, and lasts for many generations.  It is constantly rubbed with lime, either to preserve it from decay or to keep it pure.  No coffin is made use of; the body being simply wrapped in white cloth, particularly of the sort called hummums.  In forming the grave (kubur), after digging to a convenient depth they make a cavity in the side, at bottom, of sufficient dimensions to contain the body, which is there deposited on its right side.  By this mode the earth literally lies light upon it; and the cavity, after strewing flowers in it, they stop up by two boards fastened angularly to each other, so that the one is on the top of the corpse, whilst the other defends it on the open side, the edge resting on the bottom of the grave.  The outer excavation is then filled up with earth, and little white flags or streamers are stuck in order around.  They likewise plant a shrub, bearing a white flower, called kumbang-kamboja (Plumeria obtusa), and in some places wild marjoram.  The women who attend the funeral make a hideous noise, not much unlike the Irish howl.  On the third and seventh day the relations perform a ceremony at the grave, and at the end of twelve months that of tegga batu, or setting up a few long elliptical stones at the head and foot, which, being scarce in some parts of the country, bear a considerable price.  On this occasion they kill and feast on a buffalo, and leave the head to decay on the spot as a token of the honour they have done to the deceased, in eating to his memory.* The ancient burying-places are called krammat, and are supposed to have been those of the holy men by whom their ancestors were converted to the faith.  They are held in extraordinary reverence, and the least disturbance or violation of the ground, though all traces of the graves be obliterated, is regarded as an unpardonable sacrilege.

(Footnote.  The above ceremonies (with the exception of the last) are briefly described in the following lines, extracted from a Malayan poem.

Setelah sudah de tangisi, nia
Lalu de kubur de tanamkan ’nia
De ambel koran de ajikan ’nia
Sopaya lepas deri sangsara ’nia
Mengaji de kubur tujuh ari
Setelah de khatam tiga kali
Sudah de tegga batu sakali
Membayer utang pada si-mati.)

RELIGION.

In works descriptive of the manners of people little known to the world the account of their religion usually constitutes an article of the first importance.  Mine will labour under the contrary disadvantage.  The ancient and genuine religion of the Rejangs, if in fact they ever had any, is scarcely now to be traced; and what principally adds to its obscurity, and the difficulty of getting information on the subject, is that even those among them who have not been initiated in the principles of Mahometanism yet regard those who have as persons advanced a step in knowledge beyond