The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1884-09-11

Tsrkisn Funerals.
It Is problem where many Of the
European cities bury their dead. Not
but that each city has its graveyards and
many of them very large ones at that
But nowhere does Their extent seem pro-
portiopate to the death-rate. Florence
begs the question by adopting the tene-
ment plan, making the graves deep and
purying three people, one above snoth-
or. in each grave. At Venice the sea
kindly wipes out the score occasionally
on the Lido ground. and other cities
have various expedients by which. while
new graves are added In one direction,
the old grounds are correspondingly alb
sorbed for other purposes, 50 that .
balance OF size Is continually struck.
and there is no sign o. increase. There
a no such fault, however, about Con-
stantinople. The most extravagant
grumbler could not take issue with the
amount Of grave room there. There are
graveyards in the city and graveyards
beyond tho walls. The stones make
saw-teeth everywhere upon the Hill,
ops and crop up in sprswling planta-
lions in the valleys. The city has grown
over the more ancient cemeteries and
very often one stumbles on the stumps
Of the old monuments cropping up
through the cotbles in public streets.
These old graveyards are of no par
ticular Use now, but yet in q way they
have a commercial value. When man
buys one Of them all the graves and
bones and monuments pass with the
other fixtures, and it is considered .
poor speculation II the purchaser does
not get stone enough to corner his lot
and pave his walks with. There are
cases on record where the yield sufficed
to build a front wall all across the lot
out IS an extra bargain, and not to
be depended on. The present swell
graveyards-the modern ones-lie for
the most part in old Stamboul, along
the Golden Horn. This, of course, does
not include the tombs of the Sultans. A
Sultan Is Of such uncommon clay that
he can't be mixed with heterogeneous
material even after death; and so, be-
fore he dies, he builds for himself q
mausoleum that shall cover his bones,
and his only, when hN is dead. He
builds it of marble, as big as a church.
and putting it wherever his fancy list
eth, he ornaments and adorns it ac-
cording to his taste. Inside it is gilded
and domed and has magnificent tessel-
lated pavements. The bier stands in
the center. and around the room is
placed q sort of sawbuck, painted
black, on which the Korans can be rest
ed. Here they put the Sultan when he
DIES, covering him with gorgeous
cloth Of black and yellow velvet, and
at his head erect pole, with his tur-
ban wound around it. Then he is shut
up tight and left alone for a year or
two, till he becomes again approacha-
BILE, when, having canonized him as a
saint, the priests take possession of his
tomb and open it to the public rs a
sort of mosque.
One thing, however, done by the Sui
tsns in connection with the mausole
ums is of real practical worth. At reg
ular intervals around their outside walls
free fountains are opened for the benefit
OF the poor. Priests are always on the
spot to give the water to any one who
asks. and the boon is one of incalcula.
BILE benefi: to the natives; for in hot
weather the well water in the city is
malarious and unwhole ONE. Good,
sweet water is brought long distances
in pipes and is SO costly that if it were
not for these fountains it would be en-.
tirely out of the reach of the poor.
The Turks commonly select hill a.
q site for graveyard. The drainage
is better, and then, too. an opportunity
remains for getting;one's headstone a Lit.
tie higher than that of his neighbor,
which is as dear to the Moslem as to
his more Christian brother. Nothing
in the way of expense is spared in
erecting these monuments, and many of
them are marvels of curious workman
ship. They are all of one shape-a
slab formed like a coffin-lid, with the
big end up, surrounded by neck and
head Of stone, around which is wound
o turbau. The cut and arrangement OF
the turban varies according to the rank
of the former wearer. and is painted
red, blue. black or yellow, according to
his social station in life. The adorn,
ment of the face of the slab is open to
the widest flights of barbaric fancy.
Nearly all bear flowers gilded or paint
ed upon them. the favorites being the
water lily and the rose. Closely push
Ing them, however. is a nondescript
floral effort, more creditable to their
heraldic art than to their botanical
knowledge. Between the flowers are
sandwiched nice closely-printed cpl
taphs in gilt, that read up and down and
look like the incriptions on a tea-box,
descriptive of the virtues of the depart
ed as discovered by his bereaved ones
after death.
Rut only the graves of the men have
tombstones. The Turks look on an cpl
taph as in some manner q card of in
PRODUCTION to the neither world and
Moslem women not being granted any
souls, they feel that it would in a way
be playing it, on the recording angel
to call his attention with monumental
documents where testimonials could be
of no possible use; . sort of tempting
him, as it were, to pass in a soul on
forged credentials. Still there is no law
against a woman having a tombstone if
she can get one, and women being
women in Turkey as elsewhere, many
of the richer class while in life provide
monuments for themselves that vie with
those of the men in beauty and magnifi-
cence. The largest mausoleum in Con-
stantinople is the one built by The
mother of the present Sultan for her
convenience after death. 1t is of
variegatea marble and in imposing
richness rivals the far-famed tomb OF
S0ls hx, L.. ~