TREASURES IN GRAVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14925, 24 February 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

TREASURES IN GRAVES.

Thk attempt mado by some thieves to ransack the grave of an actress reminds a correspondent of the Journal des Debats that tho deposit of valuables in tombs is a very ancient custom, which still prevails in France. Jewels, however, such as were successfully hidden in the actress's grave, aro by no means the only ornaments of tho tomb.

A few years ago it was tho custom in La Vendee to put a polished stone within reach. the deceased; this was supposed to guide them on their new journey. Near Dinan not a stone, but a piece of consecrated bread, was placed in the coffin to act as a compass and enable the posthumous navigator to avoid all the reefs that menace his vessel's course. The people of the Bordeaux district expect something quite different to be put in their coffins ; " a sprig' of myrtle blessed at Easter. This, they think, ensures their entry into Paradise. On the borders of Brittany and Poitou it used be considered a serious omission not to slip a little- pebble on to tho tongue of the deceased. Without this pebble he would probably plead his cause before tho great tribunal with such volubility as would ensure his condemnation, without appeal. In days of old things that havo been the delight, the glory, and the ornament of the living were buried with them in death. Even so far back as the stone age was this the custom. By examining these relics experts have been able to trace the lines followed by commerce in that far-off time. They have discovered that there was a great commercial highway between the Atlantic and tho Mediterranean by tho Straits of Gibraltar long before the 'Phoenicians And.on the beach undid their corded bales Held on to where the Atlantic raves Outside tho Western Btruits, It was by this old route that metals first reached Gaul, and that the tin of Cornwall was exported to the Levant.