CYPRESS. 217 
our shrubberies like those representations of death 
which the Romans were accustomed to show to 
their guests even amid the transports of boisterous 
mirth. 
The ancients consecrated the Cypress to the 
Fates, the Furies, and Pluto. They placed it near 
tombs. The people of the East have retained 
the same custom. Their cemeteries are not scenes 
of desolation and neglect. Covered with trees and 
flowers, they are places of public resort, which are 
continually bringing together the living and the 
dead. The favourite tree for burial-grounds is the 
Cypress, which the Turks plant not only at the 
head and foot, but also upon the graves of deceased 
friends. Such, indeed, is their reverence for the 
dead, that they frequent the cemeteries more than 
the mosques themselves, for the purpose of prayer 
and religious meditation. There are many pious 
Mussulmans who do not suffer a day to pass without 
praying at the grave of their parents, children, rela- 
tives or friends. You may see at every hour of the 
day and even of the night some person or other 
either watering or planting fragrant shrubs and 
flowers in these abodes of peace. 
The common European evergreen Cypress is 
10 
