It is now time to return, and all retake the road to the tribe with the exception of a few women, the friends or relatives of the deceased, who, bowed down with sorrow over the grave, speak to the dead man and question him and wish him farewell, as if they thought he could hear them. At last the tolbas and the marabouts exclaim:
"Come, women. Retire trusting in Allah, and leave the dead in peace to settle with Azrael;[[97]] cease your tears and lamentations. Death is a tax levied upon our heads. We must all of us pay it. There is no alternative, neither is there any injustice in this event. Allah alone is eternal. What! should we accept the will of Allah when it brings us joy, and refuse it when it brings us sorrow! Depart. Your cries are an impiety."
They understand these words, and with their hands before their eyes they go forth from the cemetery, but at every step turn round to renew their last adieus to him whom they will never again behold until the day of judgment. The foregoing funeral oration is pronounced in the desert over every grave. The monotony of habit is the handmaid of grandeur. If the Arab manners are deficient in variety, they are at least solemn and imposing.
FINIS.
[1]. Borak is the animal upon which Mohammed was mounted when he made his journey through the heavens. It was like a mule, and was neither male nor female.
[2]. It is distinguished by the size of the respiratory duct, which enables it to accomplish fabulous journeys.
[3]. A kilogramme is equal to 2-1/5 lb., a hectogramme to rather more than 3-1/2 ozs, and a décagramme is the 100th part of a kilogramme.
[4]. I know for a fact that in certain Mussulman countries in the list of obligatory presents for a Christian personage, the donor wrote down: Kidar ala Khrater er-Roumi—"a jade for the Christian."
[5]. The eye of the Arab stirrup invariably produce exostoses on the front part of the leg. By them you may distinguish at once the rich man from the poor, the cavalier from the man on foot.