COFFINS USED AS BEDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18275, 16 December 1922, Page 2 (Supplement)

COFFINS USED AS BEDS.

STRANGE NATIVE CUSTOM.

It is an odd manufacture which is carried on at Birmingham, which is that of coffins for the palm-oil potentates and native chiefs in West and South-west Africa.

They are made of solid brass, and in the majority of oases are ordered by the chiefs themselves, and used in their houses, until required for their primary purpose, muoh after the style that wc use a costly cabinet containing treasures. Many chiefs regard the coffin with as much reverence as the Chinese.

The coffins are of huge dimensions, being from 7ft. to Bft. long, 3ft. in depth, and are in the widest part nearly 4ft. across. The lid moves on a hinge, and is always provided with at least two padlocks and Keys. Sometimes the locks are fitted in the insidoj which suggests that a chief may occasionally ufle the coffin as a bed and lock himself in. The brass is highly burnished, and in the bright sunlight gives off a dazzling glitter, which appeals strongly to the native taste. The coffins are richly decorated with raised ornaments and attrac-tively-designed rods which run round the sides.

The shield-plate bears emblazonings and sometimes figures symbolical of mythology or of strange religious beliefs. The general effectiveness is enhanced by a number of swan and ostrich plumes, usually in crimson or gold, arranged in sockets at intervals.

A coffin will weigh anything up to 7001b., and, as indicated, has sufficient space for several bodies. It may be the. desire of a chief that his favourite wives shall be buried with him.