a couple of rupees. These donations are considered to be most effective in washing away the sins of the dying man; and, as a corollary, he who receives the gifts is supposed to inherit the sins of the dying person. Hence it is very difficult to find persons to receive the donations voluntarily; and to induce the acceptance of them, large fees have sometimes to be offered. The men who accept the bribes are Brahmans of very inferior social scale, who appear with hideous faces, which proclaim that the average lustre of their caste has left them long ago. Then succeeds the sacred bath to purify the soul and atone for the sins of the dying person—it is called the Kaveri or samudra snana, as the person dying happens to be near a river or the sea—and fees are paid to Brahmans, who are supposed to perform the ablutions. The fee for each bath is generally six annas and a quarter. In rich families fees are given for a thousand such baths. As it is considered very respectable to receive this kind of fee, a good number of high class Brahmans is always available for this purpose.
After giving the gifts enumerated above, the son or sons of the dying man sit near his head
