[265] Fawcett, ‘Notes on some of the People of Malabar,’ in the Madras Government Museum’s Bulletin, iii. 71.
[266] Barth, Religions of India, p. 52.
[267] Garnett, Women of Turkey, ii. 496. Lane, Modern Egyptians, p. 530. Certeux and Carnoy, L’Algérie traditionelle, p. 220.
[268] Uhlhorn, Die christliche Liebesthätigkeit, i. 281.
[269] Bent, Cyclades, p. 221 sq.
[270] Ralston, op. cit. p. 117.
But even when the dead are no longer believed to be in need of human care, nay, though death be thought to put an end to existence, there are still duties, if not to the dead, at all events to those who were once alive. A person may be wronged by an act which he can no longer feel. There are rights that are in force not only during his lifetime but after his death. A given promise is not buried with him to whom it was made. A dead man’s will is binding. His memory is protected against calumny. These rights have the same foundation as all other rights: the feelings of the person himself and the claims of others that his feelings shall be respected. We have wishes with regard to the future when we live no more. We take an interest in persons and things that survive us. We desire to leave behind a spotless name. And the sympathy felt for us by our fellow men will last when we ourselves are gone.
CHAPTER XLVI
CANNIBALISM
BEFORE we take leave of the dead we have still to consider the practice of eating them.