The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1895-01-05

OF the Tod VINO 10 ugnt ana IN Wnon
there IL no darkness at alp"
| We passed on up through gates int.
the garden that surrounds the place
where the Parsees dispose of theil
dead. This garden was given by Jam
shidji Jijibhai and is beautiful with
flowers of all hue and foliage of al
styles of vein and notch and stature
There is on all sides great opulence o.
fern and cypress. The garden Is l0t
feet above the level Of the sea- Not
far from the entrance is building
where the mourners of the funeral pro
cession go in to pray. A light is here
kept burning year in and year out
We ascend the garden by some eight
stone steps. The body of deceased
aged woman was being carried in to.
ward the chief "tower of silence
There are five of these towers Several
! of them have not been used for a long
while. Four persons, whose business II
| 10 is to do this, carry the corpse. They
are followed by two men with long
boards. The tower Of silence to which
they come cost $3.50, 600 and is 25 feet
high and 276 feet around and without
a roof. The four carriers of the dead
and the two bearded men come to the
door of the tower, enter and leave the
dead. There are three rows of places
for the dead-the outer row for the
men, the middle row for the women, the
Inside row for the children. The life
less bodies are leftexposed as far down
as the waist. AS soon as the employees
retire from the tower of silence the
vultures, now one, now two, now many,
swoop upon the lifeless form. These
vultures fill the air with their discord-
ant voices. We saw them in long rows
on the top Of the whitewashed wall Of
the tower Of silence. In few minutes
they have taken the last particle of
flesh from the bones. There had evil
IDENTIFY been other opportunities for
them that day, and some few away, as
though surfeited. They sometimes
carry away with them parts of body,
and it is no unusual thing for the gen.
tlemen in their country seats to have
dropped into their dooryards q bone
from the tower of silence.
In the center of this tower is a we'll,
into which the bones are thrown after
they are bleached. The hot sun and
the rainy season and charcoal do their
work of disintegration and disinfec-
ton, and then there are sluices that
carry into the sea what remains of the
dead. The wealthy people of Malabar
hill have made strenuous efforts to
have these strange towers removed as
q nuisance, but they remain and will
no doubt for ages remain.
No such thing as caste among tho
dead. Philosopher and boor, the afflu-
emit and the destitute must 60 through
the same ''tower of silence" lie down
side by side with other occupants,
have their bodies dropped into the
same abyss and be carried out through
the same canal and float away on the
same sea. No splendor of Metropolis.
No sculpturing of mausoleum- No
pomp of dome or obelisk. Zoroaster's
teaching resulted in these towers Of
silence" He wrote. "Naked you came
into the world, and naked you must
go out"
As / stood at the close of day in this
garden on Malabar hill and heard the
flap of the vultures' wings coming from
their repast, the funeral custom of the
Parsee seemed horrible beyond com.
pare, and vet the dissolution of the hu.
man body by any mode is awful, and
the beaks of these fowl are probably
no more repulsive than the worms Of
the body devouring the sacred human
form in cemeteries. Nothing but the
resurrection day can undo the awful
work of death, whether it now be put
out of sight by cutting spade or flying
wing.
Starting homeward, we soon were in
the heart of the city and saw a build.
ing all aflash with lights and resound-
ing with merry voices. 1t was Parsee
wedding in building erected especial
ly for the marriage ceremony. We came
to the door and proposed to go in, but
we were not Parsees, and that we were
not even natives. So, very politely, they
halted us on the doorsteps. This temple
OF puptials was chiefly occupied by
women, their ears and necks and hands
aflame with jewels or limitations OF
jewels. BY pantomime and ges-
ture as we had no use of their vocab,i-
larry, we told them we were strangers
and were curious to see by what pro-
cess Parsees were married. Gradually
we worked our way inside the door.
The building and the surroundings
were illumined by hundreds of candles
in glasses and lanterns, in unique and
grotesque holdings. Conversation ran
high, and laughter dubbed over, and
all was gay. Then there was q sound
Of an advancing band of music,
but the instruments for the
most part were strange to our
ears and eyes. Louder and louder
were the outside voices and the wind
and stringed instruments, until the
procession halted at the door of the
temple and the bridegroom mounted
the steps. Then the music ceases, and
all the voices were still. The mother
of the bridegroom, with a platter load
ed with aromatics and articles of food,
her son and began to
address him. Then she took from
the platter a bottle of perfume
and sprinkled his face with the redol-
ence. All the while speaking in q
droning tone, she took from the
platter a handful OF rice, throwing
some Of it on his head, spilling some
of 1t on his shoulder, pouring some Of
1t on his hands. She took from the