New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-02-03

A correspondent at Constantinople re-
ports conversation with one who has long
been resident there, and who has an init
mate acquaintance with Turkish life and
manners. He says: "And how are the
Sultsrs buried % asked. II will tell yOu,n
was b reply, "what was told me by q
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 of the
idea of dead Sultan; for never was there
people among whom is SO literally carried
out the idea that lie Roi ne meurt pas
When it is quite certain that Sultan is
about to die those round him hardly wait
for the breath to leave the body. Most of
them run away to be ready to do homage
to the new occupant of the throne.
Then follows an odd arrangement: All
homage is due to tue living sovereign;
nothing must interfere with that, not even
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
straw mating and prop it up behind the
door of his room, to be as much out of sight
as possible, and when night falls it is car
ried out of the palace and buried very
quietly. No train of mourning coaches here
in Turkey-but, then, they never are used
in Turkey; no elaborate preparation for the
hours before. With US, in fact, a dead
Sultan is nobody-his sacredness has de-
scended to his successor. To him we turn
our thoughts. We 0smanlis could not do
as you Franks dO-have grand lying in
state. We should bewail at the sight, and
that would be homogeneous with the rejoic-
ing demanded of us on the accession of our
new sovereign, and would be displeasing to
him, Therefore the custom of burying the
Sultans in this manner has never been in
terered with, and it is best 3d." "But how
are grandees buried in Turkey9" con-
tinued "Ahm was the reply, II myself
saw the funerals of Ali Pasha, Fuad
Pasha and Djemil Pasha, SO l can
make you understand what the ordinary
ceremony is at the burial of q 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 for
burial, They dug three different graves for
him, because in preparing the first they
came upon some animal Ia scorpion, be-
Level, and it was thought that Turkish
ground (sacred in the eyes of Turks) would
not receive him who had died among unbe-
levers. The second grave was not com
pleted when they found water, and again it
was believed the earth in this way refused
to let the body lie there. But the third time
no such impediments appeared, and the
grave was dug on hill within STEAMBOAT,
in desOlate place, on q site once occupied
by houses and belonging to mosque; but
| this waste place had been devastated by
one of the great fires so common in Con-
stantinople, and there were the ruins stand
ing out like pillars on the burned-up ground.
"But about the cOrtege to the burial
placel" asked |. "Well. this is the
manner of it. First of all the body is
taken to mosque. Over the simple coffin
of cypress wood which contains the body
magnificent shawls are thrown, many sent
by friends of the dead pasha, some provided
by his own household. These sbawls are
very costly. Several pashas help to carry
the body to the grave, and as the process
sion goes on every one PUSHES forward to
| help to bear the coffin tor moment, as this
| is thought to be holy work. lmaums wear
ing blue, green or violet turbans, according
| to the school to which they belong, walk be-
fore and after the body. At Fuad Pasha's
funeral they walked four abreast, in green
turbans, to escort the body to the mosque,
chanting verses from the Koran. The
| dead are always taken to q mosque be-
fore burial, and there, after prayers re-
cited by the imaume, the pashas present
| spoke of the virtues of the deceased over
| his bier, as is the custom, and then
| the funeral party started for the grave
The route to it lay through the beautiful
new street of ConstantinOple called the
Yeni Sokak. There were lines of carriages
| filed with the Turkish ladies in bright col
ored feridgees, these ladies having waited
there since nine o'clock that morning to sec
the sight. Among that multitude l min
| gled, dressed as q Turk, and, as ! under
stand the Turkish language, overhead
much of the conversation and remarks o.
| the crowd. A wooden railing only wa
placed at first round the grave. You SCI
that a pasha has the respect paid him of I
ceremonious burial; but, as for the Sultans
you may depend on me when l assure yOI
speedily and quietly as possible. "-Phila
| delDhiq LedGer.