priests; and preparations are then made for carrying out the corpse to the grave. It is placed on a bier borne by four friends of the deceased, who, after a short distance, are relieved by four others, and so on, till arrived at the cemetery; the procession which accompanies it depending on the rank of the person, or the attentions of his friends. This has been so fully and so accurately described by Mr. Lane*, that I cannot do better than give it from his valuable book. "The first persons (in the procession), are about six or more poor men, called Yemenéeh, mostly blind, who proceed two and two, or three and three together. Walking at a moderate pace, or rather slowly, they chant in a melancholy tone the profession of faith, or sometimes other words: they are followed by some male relations and friends of the deceased, and in many cases by two or more persons of some sect of Dervishes, bearing the flags of their order.... Next follow three or four or more schoolboys, one of whom carries a copy of the Corán, placed upon a kind of desk formed of palm sticks, and covered over, generally with an embroidered kerchief. These boys chant, in a higher and livelier voice than the Yemenéeh, usually some words of a poem descriptive of the events of the last day, the judgment, &c., commencing "(I assert) the absolute glory of Him who createth whatever hath form, And reduceth his servants by death: * Modern Egyptians, ii. 289. Who bringeth to nought (all) his creatures, with mankind. The absolute glory of the Lord of the East* : The absolute glory of the Lord of the West +: The absolute glory of the illuminator of the two lights; His absolute glory: how bountiful is He!' "The schoolboys immediately precede the bier, which is borne head foremost. Three or four friends of the deceased usually carry it for a short distance; then three or four other friends; who are in like manner relieved. Behind the bier walk the female mourners; sometimes a group of more than a dozen or twenty, with their hair dishevelled, though generally concealed by the head-veil, crying and shrieking; and often the hired mourners accompany them, celebrating the praises of the deceased. Among the women the relations and domestics of the deceased are each distinguished by a strip of linen, or cotton stuff, or muslin, generally blue, bound round the head, and tied in a single knot behind, the ends hanging down a few inches. Each of these also carries a handkerchief, usually dyed blue, which she sometimes holds over her shoulders, and at other times twirls with both hands over her head, or before her face. The cries of the women, the lively chanting of the youths, and the deep tones uttered by the Yemenéeh, compose a strange discord. "The wailing of women at funerals was forbidden by the Prophet; and so also was the celebration of "Literally, the two Easts,' or 'the two places of sunrise ;' the point where the sun rises in summer, and that where it rises in winter. "Or the two places of sunset.'" the virtues of the deceased.... Some of these precepts are every day violated; ... and I have seen mourning women of the lower classes following a bier, having their faces (which were bare), and their head-coverings and bosoms, besmeared with mud. "The funeral procession of a man of wealth, or of the middle classes, is sometimes preceded by three or four or more camels, bearing bread and water to give to the poor at the tomb, and is composed of a more numerous and varied assemblage of persons." In this, besides the persons already mentioned, "the led horses of the bearers, if men of rank, often follow the bier; and a buffalo, to be sacrificed at the tomb, where its flesh is to be distributed to the poor, closes the procession." The funeral of a devout Shekh differs in some respects from that of ordinary mortals; and "the women, instead of wailing, rend the air with the shrill and quavering cries of joy, called zughareet: and if these cries are discontinued but for a minute, the bearers of the bier protest they cannot proceed, that a supernatural power rivets them to the spot.' Very often, it is said, a wélee impels the bearers of his corpse to a particular place; a curious anecdote of which is related by Mr. Lane*; and I have repeatedly witnessed instances of this at Cairo, having for some time lived in the main street leading to a cemetery near one of the gates of the city. * Lane, p. 294. Vide suprà, p. 298, note †. Several points of resemblance may be observed between the funeral processions of ancient Egypt and the above-mentioned ceremony: as in the female mourners; their heads bound with a fillet; the procession of the friends on foot; the head of the corpse foremost; the horses (or chariot) in the procession; and the ox or calf for sacrifice, the meat of which was probably given to the poor, like the visceratio of the Romans. Of the magnificent pomp of a royal funeral in the time of the Pharaohs no adequate idea can be formed from the processions represented in the tombs of ordinary individuals; and the solemn manner in which a public mourning was observed in his honour, the splendour of the royal tombs, and the importance attached to all that appertained to the king, sufficiently show how far these last must have fallen short of regal grandeur. A general mourning was proclaimed throughout the country, which lasted seventy-two days after his death. "The people tore their garments* ; all the temples were closed; sacrifices were forbidden; and no festivals were celebrated during that period. A procession of men and women, to the number of 200 or 300, with their dresses attached below their breast, wandered through the streets, throwing dust † and mud upon their heads; and twice every day they sang the funeral dirge in * Diodor. i. 72. Vide suprà, Vol. I. p. 256. + The Greeks say "mud ; "but in the dry dusty Egypt this would have been more difficult to find than dust in England, if we had so unpleasant a custom at our funerals. honour of the deceased monarch, calling upon his virtues, and passing every encomium upon his memory. In the meantime a solemn fast was established; and they neither allowed themselves to taste meat or wheaten bread *, abstaining also from wine and every kind of luxury; nor did any one venture, from a religious scruple, to use baths or ointments, to lie on soft beds, or in any way to gratify his appetites; giving himself up entirely to mourning during those days, as if he had lost the friend most dear to him." Considering the marked distinction maintained between the sovereign and the highest subjects in the kingdom, in a country where the royal princes walked on foot when in attendance upon their father, and even bore him in his chair of state upon their shoulders,-where the highest functionaries of the priestly order, the most influential of the hereditary nobles of the land, walked behind the chariott of their monarch, we may readily believe how greatly the funeral processions of the wealthiest individuals fell short of those of the kings. But from the pomp of ordinary funerals, some idea may be formed of the grand state in which the body of a sovereign was conveyed to the tomb. In the funeral processions of the Egyptian grandees the order was frequently as follows: Conf. "As the bread of the mourners." Hos. ix. 4. The greatest honour conferred on Joseph was permission " to ride in the second chariot which he (the King) had." This was a royal chariot, no one being allowed to appear in his own in the presence |