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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Burial sites within view of the great 

 mosque bring a high price. The Turks 

 put a tax on every corpse imported from 

 India, Persia, etc. Many bodies are 

 smuggled in. It is told of one astute Per- 

 sian pilgrim that he divided his grand- 

 father's skeleton and sent it in separate 

 parcels by mail to save freight and tax. 



When a death caravan reaches the out- 

 skirts of Nedjef, they unpack their grue- 

 some baggage and prepare the various 

 bodies for burial. The crude methods 

 of embalming or mummifying would ex- 

 pose Nedjef to disease were it not for 

 the dry desert air. The very few folk of 

 Nedjef who work for a living make 

 money manufacturing fancy shrouds, 

 stamped with Koranic sentiments, for 

 the burial of corpses brought in by the 

 pilgrims. 



Others turn out prayer-bricks ("Tor- 

 ba"), which every Shia uses in his daily 

 prayers. These are made from holy clay, 

 scooped up from the great cemetery and 

 pressed into tiny odd-shaped bricks, and 

 also stamped with an inscription from 

 the Koran. When a Shia prays, he lays 

 this torba on the ground, faces Nedjef, 

 and prostrates himself, touching his fore- 

 head against the sacred brick. 



Near the mosque in Nedjef lives a 

 colony of what might be called perennial 

 brides; they are legally married many 



times each year. When a caravan of 

 pilgrims come in from a distant land, the 

 men in the company seek out this colony 

 of professional marrying women. An 

 authorized priest performs a fixed cere- 

 mony, and the pilgrim is comfortably 

 settled as a married man during his visit 

 and period of prayer at holy Nedjef. 



As crooks prey on the crowds that 

 throng our "world's fairs," so a large 

 criminal element thrives in Nedjef, liv- 

 ing off the timid pilgrims. Gamblers, 

 thieves, and sharpers abound, and few 

 pilgrims leave Nedjef with money. 

 Many fall by the wayside and eke out 

 the life of beggars on the streets of Ker- 

 bela, Bagdad, etc. 



In all of this unnatural city I saw not 

 a tree or shrub ; not even a potted plant. 

 It is a dry, prison-like place of somber 

 gray stones and mud-plastered walls. 

 Remove its mosque, its one priceless pos- 

 session, and Nedjef, with its horde who 

 live on those that come to pray, would 

 perish from the earth. In the 1,200 years 

 of its eventful life, not one useful article 

 has been manufactured within its fanat- 

 ical precincts. 



Yet in all Islam, Shias turn to Nedjef 

 to say their prayers. To Nedjef every 

 good man must make the pilgrimage once 

 in his life, and at Nedjef he hopes to be 

 buried when he dies. 



IMPRESSIONS OF ASIATIC TURKEY 



By Stephen van Rensselaer Trowbridge 



FIVE years' experience in the prov- 

 inces of Aleppo and Adana are the 

 basis for the impressions recorded 

 in this article. Extensive horseback 

 journeys, covering altogether more than 

 4,000 miles, have given an excellent op- 

 portunity for an intimate study of the 

 Turkish people and of the land itself. 



In the provinces the Turks have built 

 no monuments which will abide. Their 

 seven centuries of occupation have served 

 to demolish many stately ruins of ancient 

 architecture ; but as for constructive 

 work not even roads and bridges have 

 been built. 



Many Americans are prejudiced against 

 the Turks, partly through a vague sus- 

 picion of all the Oriental peoples and 

 partly through the scathing denunciations 

 called forth by massacres of Bulgarians 

 and Armenians. Many of these hostile 

 utterances are no doubt echoes of Wil- 

 liam E. Gladstone's famous invectives, 

 and even in Shakespearean drama we 

 find bitter allusions to the Turks. 



But let us remember that the individual 

 Turk possesses many admirable qualities 

 of hospitality, courage, and fidelity. Asia 

 Minor is made up largely of rugged 

 mountain ranges and high, fertile pla- 



