The cypress, which grows no more when once cut down, was regarded as a symbol of the dead, and perhaps for that reason was sacred to Pluto; its branches were placed by the Greeks and Romans on the funeral pyres and in the houses of their departed friends.
In the 16th century opium is mentioned by Pyres (1516) as a production of the kingdom of Cous (Kuch Behar, south-west of Bhutan) in Bengal, and of Malwa.
There are burning pyres in my own backyard, because I don't have time to gather in the harvest.
I am reminded of the huge funeral pyres of cattle carcasses, which we saw last year.
Broad also spoke of flames from the open funeral pyres being visible from twenty miles away.