Note 32 — II.—BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH.

Superstitions connected with death have in all countries obtained credence, and we need not therefore be surprised to find that China abounds with them. “Born hardly, die hardly,” is as much a Chinese as an English saying. Even the strange idea (as we deem it) of purchasing a coffin before death is a not uncommon practice in many parts of Germany,32 and may be found existing, in remote country districts in England, so that the idea of securing a comfortable coffin is not so purely Chinese as some might think.33 There is a striking similarity between many Chinese ceremonies and superstitions connected with the burial of the dead, and our own. One peculiar superstition of the Borders is, that for a cat or dog to pass over a corpse is fearfully ominous. The Chinese have a belief that if a pregnant female animal pass over the dead person, the corpse will rise up and pursue those nearest to it, and if it overtakes any one, strangle him.34