ANCIENT TOMES. 
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deposited in a toliib or sepulchre. Among many nations it has also 
been the practice to lay the dead body in a tomb without consuming 
it, after having wrapped it up decently, and sometimes placed it in a 
cotfin. The tombs of the Jews were generally hollow places hewn 
out of a solid rock. The Egyptians also buried their dead in caves, 
called catacombs. The pyramids, as some think, were also employed 
for the same purpose. Sometimes also, after embalming their dead, 
they placed them in niches in some magnificent apartment in their 
houses. 
Persiun Tombs. 
A tomb of the Persians is a circular building, open at top, about 
fifty-five feet in diameter, and tvventy-fiVe feet in height, filled to within 
five feet of the top, except a well of 15 feet in the centre. The part 
so filled is' terraced, with a slight declivity tow ard the well. Two cir» 
cular grooves, three inches deep, are raised round the well, the first 
at the distance of four, the second at ten feet from it. Grooves 
of the lik^ depth or height, and four feet distant from each other at 
the outer part of the outer circle, are carried straight from the wall 
to the well, communicating with the circular ones, for the purpose of 
carrying off the water, &c. The tomb is thus divided into three 
circles of partitions ; the outer, about seven feet by four ; the middle 
six by three ; the inner, four by two ; the outer for the men, the 
middfe for the women, the inner for the children ; in which the bodies 
Ufe respectively placed, wrapped loosely in a cloth, and left to be 
devoured by the vultures, which is very soon done. The friends of 
the deceased dome at the proper time, and throw the bones into the 
Well. The entrance is closed by an iron door, four feet square, on 
the eastern side, as high up as the terrace, to which a road is raised. 
tJpon the wall, above the door, an aditional wall is raised, to prevent 
people from looking into the tomb, which the Persees are particularly 
careful to prevent. A Persian inscription is on a stone inserted 
over the door. From the bottom of the wall subterraneous passage$ 
are conducted, in order to receive the bones, &c. and prevent the well 
fi’om filling. 
Russian Tombs. 
Of the ancient sepulchres found in Russia and Siberia, some are 
perfect tumuli, raised to an enormous height, while others are almost 
level with the ground. Some of them are encompassed with a square 
wall of large quarry stones placed in an erect position ; others are 
covered only with a small heap of stones, or they are tumuli adorned 
with stones at top. Some are walled with brick within, and vaulted 
Over ; others are no more than pits or common graves. In some the 
earth is excavated several fathoms deep ; others, and especially those 
which are topped by a lofty tumulus, are only dug of a sufficient depth 
for covering the carcase. Urns are never met with here ; but soine* 
times what remained of the bodies after the combustion, and even 
whole carcases, are found wrapped up in thin plates of gold. 
Turkish and Moorish Tombs. 
' The Moors hold it an irreverent thing to bury their dead in mosques. 
The burial grounds of all Mahometans are mostly without the eity> 
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