1834-] - Persia, and Mesopotamia. 333 



byacrowdof women, arranged in a circle, who appeared to be overwhelm- 

 ed with grief, making a singular noise. Approaching nearer, I observ- 

 ed that they were sitting round a grave, and mourning the loss of a 

 relative or friend whose remains were deposited in it. Some were howl- 

 irjo- aloud, as if Buffering from acute bodily pain, and appeared to feel 

 deeply on occasion of the loss sustained. Others however, I could 

 clearly perceive, were acting a hired part, 



" And live upon the dead 



By letting out their persons by the hour 

 To mimic sorrow, when the heart's not sad." 



Scriptural passages appear to warrant the conclusion, that the posture of 

 these females, and their manner of going through a scene expressive 

 of grief, must have been a very ancient custom. The description given 

 of the children of Israel, after the destruction of Jerusalem, exactly 

 corresponds with the situation of these mourners. " The elders of the 

 daughter of Zion sat upon the ground ; the virgins of Jerusalem hang 

 down their heads to the ground." (Lamentations, ii. 10.) The prophet 

 Isaiah thus alludes to the desolation of Judea. "She being desolate, 

 shall sit on the ground." (Isaiah, hi. 26.) And it may be added as a 

 striking fact, that I have a Roman medal, found during my travels, 

 that represents Judea under the figure of a woman sitting in the atti- 

 tude of grief. The custom of hiring people professionally to lament 

 obtains among the natives of Greenland. — " The women continue their 

 weeping and lamentation. Their howl is all in one tone ; as if an in- 

 strument were to play a tremulous fifth downwards through all the 

 semi-tones." — (Vide Crantz's History of Greenland.) 



We now proceeded over an extensive plain, which had a wild heathy 

 aspect, interspersed with irregular hills of gravel, covered with tufts 

 of dry prickly herbage, and withered aromatic plants ; among which 

 were vast numbers of the fiorican, bustard, and black-breasted par- 

 tridge. The latter is a very singular bird : round the eye it exhibits a 

 warty skin ; on the foot a small spur, bare and black ; the forepart of the 

 leg covered with short ferruginous feathers ; and the bill convex. The 

 male and female are of the same colour, though the former has black 

 spots, which on the latter approach to a yellow. 



After proceeding some miles, we crossed the river Kourak in front 

 of some snowy hills, which were one untracked surface. Here, the 

 prince, who was a keen sportsman, obtained some capital shooting : 

 indeed all travellers pursuing this route would find many modes of 

 dissipating the tedium of their journey, as game of every description is 

 most abundant. Our table groaned under the wild ducks, partridges, 

 quails, floricans, and bustards, which were daily supplied by the prince 



