[177] Laurentius, 'De funeribus antiquorum;' Kirchmannus, 'De funere Romanorum;' Montfaucon, 'Les funérailles des Grecs, des Romains,' &c.; Muret, 'Cérémonies funèbres de toutes les nations;' Porcacchi, 'Funerali antichi;' and many others to be found in public libraries.
For a similar reason I will not describe the burning of the bodies of Williams and Shelley.[178] The ceremony was moreover somewhat harrowing owing to the impossibility of obtaining proper materials for the purpose. It will be more interesting to the reader to furnish him with a description of a still later instance of cremation; I allude to the burning of the body of the Rajah of Kellapore at Florence in 1873, and I quote here the description of the affair as given by Dr. Pini in the _Gazetta di Milano_.
[178] _See_ Trelawney's 'Last Days of Shelley and Byron.'
At the hour of midnight the mortal remains of the Indian prince were carried to the banks of the river. The funereal pile consisted of a heap of wood, about five feet square, firmly fixed and secured to the ground by seven bars of iron. A second heap of wood was thrown loosely around. After certain religious ceremonies, the pile was powdered with camphor and other aromatic substances, and the dead rajah was laid upon it. The body was anointed with pure naphtha, the features covered by a mask of some greasy substance, and all the limbs covered with resinous matter, betel-leaves, perfumes, and powdered sandal-wood. The corpse was then covered with more layers of wood, alternated with inflammable substances, and the next of kin to the prince set fire to the pile. Although the flame was fanned by a strong wind, the body was barely consumed at seven o'clock the next morning. At ten, when the fire had almost entirely burned out, nothing remained but a heap of ashes. An Indian priest collected a small quantity from the centre of the heap; the remainder was thrown to the wind, in the direction of the current of the Arno.[179]
[179] It has been seriously debated by some eminent men whether or not the ashes should be utilised, instead of being thrown away or gathered for preservation in urns.
Let us now see how cremation is performed at the present day among the poor in India.[180] The Madras correspondent of the 'Medical Times and Gazette' thus describes the mode practised in Madras:--