The Ethiopians used similar means of embalming to preserve the dead, and other less successful means were used by nations of antiquity. The Persians employed wax, the Assyrians, honey; the Jews embalmed their monarchs with spices, with which the body of Our Lord was also anointed; Alexander the Great was preserved in wax and honey, and some Roman bodies have been found thus embalmed. The Guanches, or ancient inhabitants of the Canary Isles, used an elaborate process like the Egyptian; and dessicated bodies, preserved by atmospheric or other circumstances for centuries, have been found in France, Sicily, England, and America, especially in Central America, and Peru. The art of embalming was probably never lost in Europe, and De Bils, Ruysch, Swammerdam, and Clauderus boast of great success in it. During the present century it has been almost entirely discarded, except under very exceptional circumstances.
Fig. 5.—Tomb of Runjeet Singh at Lahore.
EAVING the Oriental and remotely ancient nations aside, we will now consider the history of mourning as it was used by those peoples from whom we immediately derive our funereal customs. In ancient times, even amongst the Greeks and Romans, it was the custom to immolate victims—either slaves or captives—on the tomb of the departed, in order to appease the spirit, or that the soul might be accompanied by spirits of inferior persons to the realms of eternal bliss; and in India we have some difficulty even now in preventing the burning of a widow on the funeral pyre of her husband, instances of this barbarous custom occurring almost every year, notwithstanding the vigilance of our Government.
It would be extremely interesting to trace to their sources all the various rites and ceremonies connected with our principal subject, of every nation, savage or civilised, ancient or modern; but the task would be quite beyond my limits. A thorough investigation of the matter, assisted very materially by a systematic investigation of that mine of curious information, Picard's famous "Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples", which contains so many original letters from missionaries of the 16th and 17th Centuries, obliges me to come to the conclusion that there is, after all, not so much variety in the funereal ceremonies of the world as we imagine. Those of the Chinese and Japanese resemble in many ways, very strikingly too, the ceremonies which the Roman Catholics employ to this day: there are the same long processions of priests and officials; and Picard shows us a sketch of a very grand burial at Pekin, in 1675, in which we behold the body of the Emperor of the Celestials stretched upon a bier covered with deep violet satin, and surrounded by many lighted candles; prayers were said for the repose of the soul; and, as all the world knows, the costumes of the priests of Buddha are supposed to have undergone, together with their creed and ritual, a great change in the early part of the 17th Century, owing to the extraordinary influence of the Jesuit missionaries who followed St. Francis Xavier into India and Japan. The Japanese cremated their dead and preserved the ashes; the Chinese buried theirs; but the Cingalese, after burning the body, scattered the ashes to the winds; whilst a sect of Persians exposed their dead upon the top of high towers, and permitted the birds of prey to perform the duty which we assign to the gravedigger.
Cemeteries existed in the East at a remote epoch, and were rendered so beautiful with handsome mausoleums, groves of stately cypresses and avenues of lovely rose bushes, that they are now used as public promenades. On certain days of the year multitudes resort to them for purposes of prayer, and the Armenian Christians illuminate theirs with lamps and tapers on the annual feast of the commemoration of the departed. Perhaps India possesses the most elegant tombs in the world, mainly built by the sovereigns of the Mongol dynasty. None among them is so sumptuous as the mausoleum of Taj Mahal, situated about a mile outside the port of Agra. It was built by Shah Jehan for himself and his wife Arjimand Banoo, surnamed Mumtaz Mahal; 20,000 men were employed for 20 years erecting it. It is constructed of the purest white marble, relieved with precious stones. In the interior is the sepulchral apartment, which is chiefly decorated with lapis lazuli. The tombs of the Emperor and Empress, which stand under the dome, are covered with costly Indian shawls of green cashmere, heavily embroidered with gold.