MELPOMENE. 107

me of the blood of the contracting parties, obtained
a. slight incision of a knife or a sword; in this cup

icy dip a cimeter, some arrows, a hatchet, and a

lear- After this they pronounce some solemn pray-
- and the parties who form the contract, with such

f their friends as are of superior dignity, finally drink
i contents of the vessel.

LXXI. The sepulchres of the kings are in the dis-
rict of the Gerrhi. As soon as the king dies, a large
rench of a quadrangular form is sunk, near where
he Borysthenes begins to be navigable. When this
tas been done, the body is inclosed in wax, after it has
.een thoroughly cleansed, and the entrails taken out;
lefore it is sewn up, they fill it with anise, parsley-
Bed, bruised cypress, and various aromaties. They
lien place it on a carriage, and remove it to another
listrict, where the persons who receive it, like the
(loyal Scythians, cut off a part of their ear, shave
lieit heads in a circular form, take a round piece of
lesh from their arm, wound their foreheads and noses,
md pierce their left hands with arrows. The body is
igain carried to another province of the deceased
ting's realms, the inhabitants of the former district
accompanying the procession. After thus transport­
ing the dead body through the different provinces of
the kingdom, they come at last to the Gerrhi, who
live in the remotest parts of Scytbia, and amongst
whom the sepulchres are. Here the corpse is placed
upon a couch, round which, at different distances,
daggers are fixed; upon the whole are disposed pieces
of wood, covered with branches of willow. In some
other part of this trench, they bury one of the deceas­
ed's concubines, whom they previously strangle, to­
gether with the baker, the cook, the groom, his most
confidential servant, his horses, the choicest of his
effects, and, finally, some golden goblets, for they pos­
sess neither silver nor brass: to conclude all, they fill
up the trench with earth, and seem to be emulous in
their endeavours to raise as high a mound as possible.

LXXII. The ceremony does not terminate here.
They select such of the deceased king's attendants, in
the following year, as have been most about his per­