which contains the remains of his ancestors.

Some of the Japanese cemeteries are very extensive; and they are
generally situated in secluded, picturesque spots, in the
neighbourhood of the towns and villages.

The graves are small, round, cemented receptacles; just large enough
to receive the jar containing the ashes. If the body is buried (which
only happens when the deceased is friendless, or too poor to pay the
expenses of cremation), the head is always placed pointing to the
north. The tombstones are ordinarily about three feet high; and are
either square or circular in shape, resting on square pedestals, in
which small holes are cut to contain rice and water. The supplies of
these are replenished from time to time, generally by the women of the
family, lest the spirit of the deceased should revisit its grave and
imagine itself neglected. Sometimes flowers are placed before the
graves, and flowering sprigs of peach and plum are stuck in the ground
about them.

Like the Chinese, the Japanese burn joss-sticks to propitiate the
deities in favour of their departed relatives; and the neighbourhood
of a graveyard may generally he detected by the peculiar aromatic
odour emitted during the burning of these. For some time after a
funeral the relatives daily visit the tomb and intercede for the dead,
holding their hands up in the attitude of prayer, and rubbing the
palms together as they mutter their monotonous orisons.