[611]. See 2 Chron. xxxv. 25; Jer. ix. 17; and Matt. ix. 23.
[612]. The Egyptians have a superstitious objection to keep a corpse in the house during the night after the death, and to burying the dead after sunset; but the latter is sometimes done: I have witnessed one instance of it.
[613]. It is hardly necessary to state that the corpse of a female is always washed by a woman.
[614]. The leaves of the lote-tree, dried and pulverized, are often used by the poor instead of soap.
[615]. The kefen is often sprinkled with water from the well of Zemzem, in the Temple of Mekkeh.
[616]. “’A-l-’ebád” is a vulgar contraction, for “’ala-l-’ebád.”—It will be observed (from the specimen here given, in the first two lines) that this poem is not in the literary dialect of Arabic.
[617]. 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.
[618]. Or, “the two places of sunset.”
[619]. In the funeral scenes represented on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs, we often see females with a similar bandage round the head.
[620]. This was a custom of the ancient Egyptians: it is described by Herodotus, lib. ii., cap. 85.—Passengers in the streets and roads, when a corpse is borne by to the tomb, often say,—“God is most great! God is most great! That is what God and his Apostle have promised: and God and his Apostle have spoken truth. O God, increase our faith and submission!”—The women, pointing with the finger at the bier, say,—“I testify that there is no deity but God.”