'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎290] (399/496)

290
was formerly girt by a strong wall, that now exposes large gaps through
which a squadron of horse might traverse the whole range of its streets,
rendering the gates of the city a dead letter, and merely used from habit
alone. West of the town stands the Kubristan, or graveyard, containing
some well kept and tolerably well constructed tombs, the mausoleums
of the holy mustaheds of the place. The Necropolis, indeed, wears an
air of cleanliness and order quite foreign to the city of the living, where
filth, squalor, and misery, reign supreme. I here first remarked the
singular custom of describing on the tombstone the sex and profession
of the defunct by various devices, which, in a subsequent age, may excite
as great an interest as the hieroglyphics of Egypt. The grave of a
female is shewn by a double comb, that of a male by a single one.
The trade or calling of the individual is known by some suitable
weapon of war, or implement of husbandry. A few of the tombs were
also decorated with the braided tresses of a mourning wife, or more pro
bably of some betrothed maiden—affection’s tribute to the departed
dead. This I afterwards observed in the neighbourhood of Belustan,
and Sermaj* The custom is a remarkable one, and originated no doubt
in a very remote age.
* Herodotus, Book IV., Art. 2G, alludes to this custom of removing the ltair * n( J
offering it at the sacrifices among the Issedones. On the death of a paren , an
the festivals termed Teyeoia and Ne/xecrta by the Greeks, “they placed Iocs o
hair on the tombs. ’’
The HXo Nct/iowrer Sr]Trjpio^ of Aeschylus, as noted in the Greek and Roman
antiquities, evidently distinguishes this peculiar observance as a veiy ancie
Major Rawlinson in his journey into Khuzistan (Royal Geographica our ^ a ’ : st j n cr
53 and 58 of Yol. IX. part I.), remarks at some length on the same usage f fc
among the tribes of Luristan; and from personal observation can f i S a u orc iers of
prevails in a more or less degree throughout the Arab tribes from. ie Q a
the Mediterranean to the confines of Persia as far south as the 1 ers J an ^ ^
one occasion I was an eye-witness of the deposition of this species o n , rv .j n g
dead. In 1842, I had ascended a remarkable mound for the purpose o ^ ce
with a theodolite some conspicuous ruins on the banks of the Euphra es. gervan ^
was a lonely and quiet spot, on the open desert, and, with the excep mn o ^ oWever>
I thought I was the only human being in the vicinity. I was astoms ie 5 ^ r0U g| 1
at hearing the low sobs and plaintive moans of a female, and on oo 1 » ^ ra b
my telescope observed, at the distance of about 200 yards from me, ^ • ie f t
girl, prostrated on a newly made grave, apparently in the extremity o g ^ other
she seen me she would undoubtedly have fled, but her grief a sor . ^ but
reflections, and I crouched under the lee of the mound to watc 1 . lips to
interesting task. She repeatedly embraced the cold earth, even, y sa mo
the humid soil, and uttering occasionally the most piercmg s i rie » and
time wringing her hands and beating her breast in every atti u e j n to a
woe. Violent grief is not of long duration, and her paroxysms so afterwards
sullen despondency. With tears streaming from her fine blac ey , mea ns of a
proceeded to disengage every braided tress that adorned hei an( j then*
reaping hook which is used in these parts to cut grass tor i >