164 



because in early times kings only were buried in it, others being 

 either burned or buried under a heap of stones. Also, no stranger 

 has liberty to break up the ground of the cathedral without permis- 

 sion from the prince."* The burial in caves, it need scarcely be 

 mentioned, was also a primitive eastern custom. " And Abraham 

 buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah." 



Another eastern practice accompanied the Irish funerals, and still 

 proclaims itself in the remoter provinces, the lamentations of keeners, 

 commonly designated "the Irish cry;"-f a species of professional 

 lament, that in the wild districts, to which it is now confined, we can- 

 not but think thrillingly affecting. Chardin, when speaking of eastern 

 Mailings for the dead, gives an accurate notion of these practised in 

 Ireland, " they continue a long time, then cease all at once; they 

 begin again as suddenly at day break, and in concert. It is this sud- 

 denness which is so terrific, together with a greater shrillness and 

 loudness than one may easily imagine." The Hebrews had their 

 mourning women.;^ From them the Greeks,§ Romans, and Asiatics 

 adopted the custom. Homer speaks of the women weeping round 

 the corse of Hector, and Sophocles represents the chorus crying over 

 the remains of Ajax ; while in the laws of the Ten Tables it was 

 found necessary to restrain this " ululatus," " let all costliness and 

 excessive wailings be banished from funerals. "H And again, " let not 

 the women tear their faces, or disfigure themselves, or make hideous 

 outcries."ll In India, according to Sonnerat, funeral cries are in use, 

 and other oriental travellers still encounter them. 



Here then, in the practice of burials alone, are to be found 

 mounts, cairns, caves, and funeral cries for the dead, all derived 



• Cited Ware's Antiquities, p. 152. t See post. Per. 4. sect. 6. 



X Jerem. ix. 17 — 2 Kings, 3. — 2 Chron. xxxv, 25. — 2 Kings, cs. 1 and 3. 



§ See Burder's Oriental Customs, p. 210. || Hooke's Roman History, b. 2. c. 27. 



