Page 11 - Graveyard

G r av e y ar d H u m o r | 9

Tumuli.
The tumuli, mounds, or barrows, which have been found, we might almost
say, in all quarters of the globe, are said to be the most ancient and general
of all monuments to the dead: the researches of archaeologists of the
present day show that they were places in which the ancients deposited
their dead. The earliest we read of is that which was erected over the
remains of Patroclus, the friend of Achilles, and in whose memory the
Greeks established solemn funeral games. In the mounds of various parts
of Assyria and Mesopotamia funeral vases and glazed earthen coffins are
found piled up in great numbers.

Pyramids.
It is conjectured by some that the Egyptian Pyramids were erected for
sepulchral purposes: the largest one is that which is supposed to contain
the bones of Cheops, and we have read somewhere that 100,000 men
worked without interruption for twenty years in building this enormous
pyramid.

Mausoleums.
The word mausoleum, now used to signify a sepulchral edifice, is from
Mausolus, the King of Caria, who died 353 years before Christ, and whose
Queen, Artemisia, caused to be erected to his memory the most splendid
sepulchral monument the world had seen, which was esteemed one of the
seven wonders of the world.

Burning the Dead.
It has been customary in many countries to burn the dead, and to collect
the ashes in urns. This custom of reducing the remains to ashes by fire still
prevails in some parts, as will be seen in the sequel.

Persian Customs.
The Guebers, or fire-worshippers, in Persia, do not bury their dead, but
expose the bodies on rocks or the towers of their temples, to be eaten by
birds.

Customs at South Africa.
The burial customs of South Africa are singular: thus, in the country
around Pungo Andongo the ancient burial-places of the Jinga are said to