SYRIA 



247 



purchased, and girls 

 are sometimes bartered 

 for, others being given in 

 exchange. 



Some peculiar cere- 

 monies are practised at 

 Arab funerals. It is the 

 custom among certain 

 tribes to bury with the 

 dead man his sword, tur- 

 ban, and girdle. Women, 

 but not men, wear 

 mourning. In the houses 

 of the dead and in the 

 processions to the burial- 

 place female mourners, 

 hired for the occasion, 

 howl most horribly, beat 

 their arms, tear their 

 hair, and behave generally 

 like furies. Sunset is 

 the usual time for funerals 

 to take place. The 

 mullahs read passages 

 from the Koran over the 

 grave, in which the body 

 is laid on its side with 

 the face towards Mecca. 



The Arabs are fanati- 

 cal adherents of Islam, 

 which had its starting- 

 place in the desert. The 

 Koran is the basis of 

 their laws. Their religion 

 dominates their individual 

 lives as well as their 

 political existence. The 

 holy cities of Mecca and 

 Medina are within their 

 territory, and the con- 

 stant procession of devout pilgrims to these places naturally stimulates the pride and zeal of 

 the Arabs in their religion. 



jti) (tij Ltkeyiait tfc C'o.J 



A BEDOUIN. 



[ L'airo. 



SYRIA. 



THE word Syria is an abbreviated form of Assyria, the name by which one of the great 

 empires of antiquity was known. The territorial extent of the ancient empire has been 

 reduced even more than its name. At one time it spread over a vast region in Western Asia. 

 Now the country which is called Syria is restricted to a mere strip, the western shore of 

 which is washed by the Mediterranean, while its eastern limit is in the arid steppes fringing 

 the Desert of Arabia. Its utmost length is 430 miles from the Taurus Mountains in tire 

 north to Arabia Petraea in the south. In breadth it averages about 100 miles. Its total area 



