Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1876-08-12

"And how are the sultans buried?'
l asked. 81 will tell you," was the re.
| ply, what was told me by a Turk
among Turks-one who knew and would
tell the truth. The dead sultans have
always been buried like dogs. The
great thing is to get rid altogether OIL
the idea of a dead sultan; for never was
there a people among whomi it Is so liter
ally carried out the idea that lie roi ne
meIrt pas.' When it is quite certain
tlat a sultan is about to die, those
round him hardly wait for the breath to
lear the body. Most Of them run
away to be ready to do homage to the
new occupant Of the throne. Then fol-
lows an odd arrangement. All homage
Is 10 to the liv' lg sovereign; nothing
N lst OF interfere with that, not sven
the corpse of the late sovereign. So one
or two of his old servants only remain
with the body, and when it is quite dead
they roll it up In stra Y m%atting..and prop
it up behind the door Of his room, to be
as much out o. sight as possible, and
whea night falls it is CARR ! oit of the
palace aud buried very quietly. No
train of mourning coaches here, you see
but, then, they never are used in
Turkey; no elaborate preparation for
the last restir 9 place of one all-power-
full a few hours before. With us, In
fact, a dc 4 sultan is nobody-his
s crcdness has descended to his sue
ce.r-or. To him we turn our thoughts.
We Osmanlis could not do as you Franks
oo-hsye a grand lying-in-state. We
Should bewail at the sight, and that
would be homogeneous with the re-
joe; ,g demanded of us on the acce ssion
of our nc ' SOY .eign, and would be dis
pl cs'ng to hi i. Thereto Q tie custom of
! !, 9 the sr'tans in the manner has
rever beeni e cred with; and it is
best so.'"
Gut how are grandees buried In
Tur ey?" / continued. "AhP' was the
.oply, ~ myself law the funerals of All
Pas "a, Fuad Pasha, and Djemil Pasha,
so / can make you unders and what the
ordinary ceremony is at the burial of a
person Of rank. Neither Turkish ladies
nor Turks ever wear mourning. That
they dispense with. Let me tell you
about the late Fuad Pasha's funeral,
minister for foreign affairs. Well, he,
you know, died in Italy, and his body
was brought back to STEAMBOAT fer buri-
al. They dug three different graves for
him, because, in preparing the first,
they came upon some animal IA scorpi-
on. I believed, and it was thought that
Turkish ground sacred in the eyes of
Turks) would not receive the bedy OF
him who had died among unbelievsrs.
The second grave was not quite COM
pleted when they found water, and again
It was believed the earth in this way re-
fused to let the body lie there. But the
third time no such impediments appear
ed, and the grave was dug OF a bill in
STEAMBOAT, in a desolate place on q site
once occupied by houses, and belonging
to 3 mosque; but this place had been
devastated by one Of the great fires SO
common in Constantinople, and there
were the ruins standing out like
pillars on the burned-ground." "But
about the cortege to the burial placer
asked /. "Well, this is the manner Of
it: First of all the body is taken to a
mosque. Over the simple coffin Of cy-
press wood which. contains the body
magnificent shawls are thrown, many
sent by friends of the dead pasha. some
provided by his own household. The
shawls are very costly. Several pashas
help to carry the body to the grave, and
as the procession goes on every one
rushes forward to help to bear the cof-
fin for a moment, as this is thought to
be holy work. Imaums wearing blue,
green, or violet turbans, according to
the school to which they belong, walk
before and after the body. At Fuad
Pasha's funeral they walked four ARREST,
in green turbans, to escort the body to
the mosque, chanting verses from the
Koran. The dead are always taken to
a mosque before burial, and there, after
prayers recited by the imaums, the
pasbas present spoke VI the virtues of
the deceased over his bier, as is the GUS
tom, and thsn the funeral party started
for the grave. The route to it lay
through the Beautiful new street of
Constantinople, which is called the
Yeni Sokak. There were lines Of car
riages filled with Turkish ladies in
bright-colored feridgecs, these ladies
having waited there since nine o'clock,
that morning, to see the sight. Among
that multitude / mingled, dressed as q
Turk; and, as / understood the Turkish
language, l overheard much Of the cou-
versation and remarks of the crowd. A
wooden railing only was placed at first
round the grave. You see that a pasha
has the respect paid him OF a ceremoni-