When These Kings Are At War With Each Other, They Often Go Personally
Into The Field, And Even Join Personally In Fight Upon Occasion.
When one
of them dies, the body is carried out into the fields, and burned on a
pile of
Sanders, and of another sweet smelling wood called _aguila_, all
his brothers and kindred, and all the nobles of the country being present
at the ceremony; which is uniformly postponed to the third day after
death, that all may have time to gather from a distance, and may have an
opportunity of being assured whether his death was natural, or caused by
violence: Since, if he died by the hand of any one, all are bound to
prosecute revenge. After the body is burnt, and the ashes buried, the
whole company shaves every part of their bodies, even to the youngest
child of these idolaters. This is their token of mourning; and during the
ensuing thirteen days, they all refrain from chewing betel, any one
infringing this law being punished by cutting his lips. During this
period of thirteen days, he who is to succeed to the throne must abstain
from all exercise of government, that any one who pleases may have an
opportunity of urging any valid objection why he should not acquire the
vacant government. After, this the successor is sworn before all the
nobles of the country, to preserve and enforce all the laws and customs
of their ancestors, to pay the debts of his predecessor, and to use his
utmost endeavours to recover any portion of the kingdom that may have
been lost.
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