PREFACE. xxvii 



In Tripoli, on the celebration of a wedding, the baskets 

 of sweetmeats, &c. sent as wedding presents, are covered 

 with flowers ; and although it is well known that they fre- 

 quently communicate the plague, the inhabitants will even 

 prefer running the risk, when that dreadful disease is 

 abroad, rather than lose the enjoyment they have in their 

 love of flowers. When a woman in Tripoli dies, a large 

 bouquet of fresh flowers, if they can be procured, if not, 

 of artificial, is fastened at the head of her coffin. Upon 

 the death of a Moorish lady of quality, every place is 

 filled with fresh flowers and burning perfumes : at the head 

 of the body is placed a large bouquet, of part artificial, 

 and part natural, and richly ornamented with silver: and 

 additions are continually made to it. The author who de- 

 scribes these customs also mentions a lady of high rank, 

 who regularly attended the tomb of her daughter, who 

 had been three years dead : she always kept it in repair, 

 and, with the exception of the great mosque, it was one of 

 the grandest in Tripoli. From the time of the young 

 lady's death, the tomb had always been supplied with the 

 most expensive flowers, placed in beautiful vases ; and, in 

 addition to these, a great quantity of fresh Arabian Jessa- 

 mines, threaded on thin slips of the Palm-leaf, were hung 

 in festoons and tassels about this revered sepulchre. The 

 mausoleum of the royal family, which is called the Turbar, 

 is of the purest white marble, and is filled with an immense 

 quantity of fresh flowers ; most of the tombs being dressed 

 with festoons of Arabian Jessamine and large bunches of 

 variegated flowers, consisting of Orange, Myrtle, Red and 

 White Roses, &c. They afford a perfume which those 

 who are not habituated to such choice flowers can scarcely 

 conceive. The tombs are mostly of white, a few inlaid 

 with coloured marble. A manuscript Bible, which was 

 presented by a Jew to the Synagogue, was adorned with 



