There Is Also A National Custom Observed At Funerals:
The bier,
on issuing from the house of the deceased, is carried upon the shoulders
of some of his
Relations or friends, the rest of whom follow behind; but
when the procession advances into the street, every by-stander, or
passenger, hastens to relieve the bearers for a moment; some giving way
to others, who press forward to take in their turn the charge, which is
done without stopping. The bier, thus unceasingly passes from shoulders
to shoulders, till it is finally deposited near the tomb. If we could
suppose for a moment, that this simple and affecting custom was the
offspring of true feeling, it would prove much more sensibility than
what is displayed in the funeral pomp with which Europeans accompany
their dead to the grave. But in the East every thing is done according
to ancient custom: it originated, no doubt, in the impulse of feeling,
or a sense of duty and piety in those who introduced it; but has become,
in these days, a mere matter of form.
The women of Medina never wear mourning; in which respect they differ
from those of Egypt. It has been often stated by travellers, that the
people of the East have no mourning dresses; but this is erroneous, as
to Egypt at least, and part of Syria. The men, it is true, never indulge
in this practice, which is prohibited by the spirit of the law; but the
women, in the interior of the house, wear mourning in every part of
Egypt:
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