such sites very much depends, since it may bring wealth, honor, and untold blessings to the family if a good site is selected, and may, on the other hand, bring all sorts of calamities if a bad one is chosen. The site selected may be a long distance and will add much to the cost of the funeral; but all this counts for nothing, since the wise man has said that no other place will be so lucky as the one selected. There are no cemeteries, in the true sense of the word, in Korea. The graves are placed at such places as may be thought best by the geomancer, and without any thought of grouping them together. It is not an uncommon sight to see one lone grave high up on the side of a mountain or on the top of a high hill, far away from any other grave! Many a family goes into debt from which they can never recover for the purpose of giving a father a great funeral. It may be all right for the father to live on short rations for years before he dies, but after death he must be well provided for if his sons wish to stand as respectable men in their community.
If a death occur in the winter, when it is difficult to dig a grave, the body is wrapped in straw and laid on the ground at some place near the house, and covered over, with a little dirt and a lot of straw, and is allowed to remain there till spring, when the funeral can be properly conducted. It is a sad sight to pass one of these places in the early morning and see the sons of the dead man, dressed in their sackcloth, bending over the body and wailing at the top of their voices.
