The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-07-18
DYING IN PERSIA.
The Correct Way of shufiiing on Mortal
Integuments in the Dominions of the
Shah.


The Correct Way of shufiiing on Mortal
Integuments in the Dominions of the
Shah.
The sick man lies in ertremts on a
thin mattress upon the floor. covered
by quilted silken coyerlet- Twenty
or thirty persons are in the room where
he is dying. The smoke of many
-hubble-bubbles clouds the air; whispered
conversation is general. The doctors
have declared their patients condition
hopeless, and, as last resort certain
charms suggested by wierd-looking
dervish have been tried. But the crab
broth, prepared from the tiny crusta-
ceans that inhabit the streamlets round
Shiraz, the patient has been unable to
swallow; and the dervish points out to
the relatives of the dying man that his
panaeea has only not proved infallible
because it was tried too late. A yelled
woman, the wife of the dying man, sits
weeping at the side of her husband S
pillow She frequently holds to his
face moistened piece of mud torn
from the wall (this wetted mud is sup
posed to have very reviving influence,
and is used by Persians as we use
smelling salts).
Tea is handed round in small cups;
the crowd in the room becomes greater;
every window is shut, and, as the out
side temperature is ninety degrees,
some idea of the heat within can be
formed. The crowd is not here from
mere curiosity. A man is sick; then
where should his friends be, they say,
if not by his bedsidep The samovars
RUSSIAN tea urns) steam and bubble;
the room is filled with clouds of tobacco
smoke and the steam from the urns.
And now, Just as two hundred years
ago was done in England, fowl is
killed and placed warm and bleeding
on the patients feet. All is of no avail,
however. The man has breathed his
last.
The wife yields her place by the bed
side. Moistened cottonwood is placed
in the mouth of the dead. in the orr
fees of the nostrils, and in the ears. A
moollah begins to read aloud the pre-
scribed portion of the Koran, commenc-
ing 30 man, l swear by the instructive
Koran that thou art one of the messen-
gers of God sent to show the right
way etc. This portion of the Mussel-
mans sacred book was called by Mo.
manned himself 'the heart of the
Koran" And now all present witness
aloud that the dead man was good
and pious Mohammedan. The limbs
are composed, and a cup of water is
| placed at the head of the corpse. Nc
| tc llah
| cendc to the flat roof of the house and
begins to read in shrill monotone GER
| tain verses from the holy book. This
announces to the neighbors that the
man is veritably dead; and at the same
moment his relations shrek and wall
"Woe, woe! he is dead; he has passed
| away" These are the expressions of 9
real grief. But presently the profes
sional mourners arrive and rend the all
with their shrill screaming. which il
like the 'keening' of the Irish.
| The house is soon filled with friend.
and neighbors, who add their cries tC
the screams of the mourners. The
women of the family hasten to array
! themselves in ''bitter" q. e., sombre,
| garments--not in actual black, but il
sad colors; neither they nor the mer
wash or dress their hair until the funer
al and the first days of mourning ar,
over. The male relatives do not liter
ally rend their garments. but give then
the right appearance by opening GER
tain seams of their coats and cloak
with penknite; and instead OF casting
dust upon their heads they dab mud OF
| their hats.
And now come the washers of th,
dead To each parish are at
tached a family of these people
who get despised livelihood by per
forming the last Offices for the dead
The corpse having been washed at al
adjoining stream, the hands are placed
across the chest, and it is wrapped il
the shroud of cotton cloth that the de
ceased has probably had by him, as {
sort of memento mort, for years. Cam
phor (real vegetable camphor) il
placed beneath the shroud, and tn,
body is laid in a rough coffin made o
thin planks and brought back to The
house. The coffin in Persia is of thr
and unsubtantial kind, and the buria
always takes place within twenty-foul
hours of decease. ST. James Gazette