ADDRESSES 201 



foot of the grave a plainer stone marks the resting-place of 

 the woman. The turban is absent, and in its place the top 

 of the stone is rounded or pointed, while a running vine is 

 worked around the outer edge. The inscription is very 

 simple — only the name of the family of the deceased, and 

 a recommendation of his soul to the only living and true 

 God. A beautiful custom prevails, both among the Turks 

 and the Christian population, of hollowing out two small 

 cavities in the tablet covering the grave itself, which are 

 kept filled with seeds and fresh water to attract the birds to 

 come and build their nests near by and sing their songs over 

 the graves of the departed. 



The cemeteries of the Jews are in keeping with their daily 

 life. As their object is so to live as not to attract attention 

 and thus call down upon themselves the persecution of their 

 neighbors, so the resting-places of their dead display the 

 same neglect and want of care. Nothing drearier or more 

 desolate can be imagined. Not a tree or shrub to relieve the 

 melancholy waste. Nothing but the barren hillsides, strewn 

 for miles around with gray slabs, lying in the most terrible 

 confusion. 



Not so the Greeks and Armenians. Choosing some beau- 

 tiful site, as in the " Grand Champ des Morts " at Constan- 

 tinople, overlooking the Bosphorus and the Marmora, they 

 plant the stately palm or the graceful terebinthus [turpen- 

 tine], erect a coffee-house, and make it a fashionable 

 resort. Its cool and airy situation, its agreeable shade and 

 the convenience of comfortable seats afforded by the tomb- 

 stones, make it a pleasant promenade. Here, on the flat 

 tablets, the elders mark out a rough board and play games 

 of chance or checkers, or perchance discuss the merits of 



