. New China and old : personal recollections and observations of thirty years. the transit, we heard, (though news from the seclusion ofthe palace is rare and not wholly reliable,) that theEmperor had been seized with the small-pox, andwhen apparently convalescent, he had a relapse anddied. Then passing to superstitions more immediately con-nected with death and its consequences. The Chinesewear white instead of black for mourning; and thewhite of a foreign linen surplice, though much purerand brighter than the dull white of their unbleachedcalico, seems to them too funereal for weddings andot
. New China and old : personal recollections and observations of thirty years. the transit, we heard, (though news from the seclusion ofthe palace is rare and not wholly reliable,) that theEmperor had been seized with the small-pox, andwhen apparently convalescent, he had a relapse anddied. Then passing to superstitions more immediately con-nected with death and its consequences. The Chinesewear white instead of black for mourning; and thewhite of a foreign linen surplice, though much purerand brighter than the dull white of their unbleachedcalico, seems to them too funereal for weddings andother special occasions, unless relieved by a scarlet hoodor some other colour. Possibly for the Chinese Churchof the future other vestments may be devised, with em-broidered collars such as are worn by graduates. Whiteseems associated frequently with death. I rememberonce during a short sea trip from the Northern portsto Shanghai, noticing the deck of the steamer lined withcoffins containing the bodies of Chinese who had diedwhen away from home, and were being taken back for. The White Cock. 235 burial in their ancestral tombs. Each coffin had onthe lid either a live white cock in a cage, or an imitationof a bird in white paper. The idea seems to be that bythis bird, sacred to such uses, one of the three souls ofthe dead is decoyed and enticed back from the foreignclime where the man had died, to the tomb ; and thatin this way rest for the dead and peace for the survivorswill be ensured. The Chinese admit that they cannottrace the origin of these superstitions. Socrates remem-bered just before his death that he owed a cock toAsklepios. The cock was the bird which heralded thereturn of light and life to the darkened earth; andAsklepios was, in Greek fancy, the great healer whosevoice brought back the dead from the grave. Andso, says Sir George Cox, with the consciousness thatthe life here is the portal of the life hereafter, passedaway the man who, in the words of his disciple, w
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