New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-01-21
How sultans are Buried.


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
Sultans buried ~ asked. IL will tell you, j
was the reply, "what was told me by q
Lnrk among Iurks-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 a dead Sultan; for never was there a
people among whom is go literally carried
out the idea that lie Roi ne D,eurt pas
When it is quite certain that a 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: Al
homage is due to the 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
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
last resting place of one All-powerfnl few
Sultan is nobody-his sacredness has de-
scended to his successor. To him we turn
our thoughts. We OsmAnlis 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 reioic-
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
terlered with, and it is best So" "But how
are grandees buried in Turkeyl" I CON
tinued "Abw was the reply, II myself
sew the funerals of Ali Pasha, Fusd
Pasha and Djemil Pasha, SO l can
make you understand what the ordinary
ceremony is at the burial of person Of
ever wear mourning. That they dispense
with. Let me tell you about the late Fuad
Pashs'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 la scorpion, be-
Level, and it was thought that Turkish
ground (shcred in the eyes of Turksl 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 a hill within StambOul,
in desOlate place, on site once occupied
by houses and belonging to a mosque; bat
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-np 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 mosque. Over the simple coffin
of cypress wood which contains the body
magnificent ahawls are thrown, many sent
by friends of the dead pasha, some provided
by his own household. These shawls are
very costly. Several pashas help to carry
the body to the grave, and as the process
sion goes on every one rushes forward to
help to bear the coffin for q moment, Is this
lie thought to be holy work. Imaums 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-
fOrs burial, and there, after prayers re-
cited by the imaums, the pashas present
spoke Of the virtues of the deceased over
HE bier, as is the custom, and then
the funeral party started for the grave.
The route to 1t lay through the beautiful
new street of COnetantinOple called the
Yeni SOkAk. There were lines Of carriages
filed with the Turkish ladies in bright col
Ored feridgees, these lsdies having waited
there since nine O'Clock that morning to see
the sight. Among that multitude min
gled, dressed as Turk, and, as under
stand the Turkish language, overhead
much of the conversation and remarks OF
the crowd. A wooden railing only was
placed at first round the grave. You zee
that q pasha has the respect paid him OF Q
ceremonious burial; but, as for the Sultans,
you may depend on me when / assure You
that dead Sultan is got out of sight as
speedily and quietly as possible. "-Phila-
delphia Ledger.