phets; and also to make some observations on the matters there mentioned. I would take notice, in the first place, of the numerousness of these Mohammedan sacred sepulchres. This writer having occasion to mention Sidi Cassem, in the road from Tetuan to Mequinez, tells us, "The town takes its name from a saint, who has a monument in it, to which the Moors with great superstition resort to say their prayers;" to which he adds, 66 a great many more saints are buried in the road to Mequinez, having little monuments over them, which the Moors will seldom pass without praying at." He had a little before, in the plate he has given us of Alcassar, p. 78, marked distinctly the monument of a saint much resorted to; as a little after his account of Sidi Cassem, he mentions a plain called Muley Idris, from a saint who has a monument hard by, which it seems is treated with such veneration, that the travellers to Mequinez go considerably out of their way to at it; to which he adds, that the emperor himself often pays his devotions there. pray Since the same principle, which has produced such numerous effects in late times in. Barbary, is intimated by our LORD, to have operated with great vigour among the Jews of his time, I cannot but imagine there were then many more of these sepulchres, in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem,' than now appear. y P. 82, 83. z Since there, according to Luke xiii. 33, most of those Travellers are shewn a handsome structure, which is supposed to be the tomb of Zacharias, slain between the temple and the altar; besides which there is only one more sepulchral structure above ground, I think, relating to those of the Old Testament, which is called the sepulchre of Absalom, against which both Jews and Mohammedans are said to throw stones, to express their detestation of him, of which there is a considerable heap. Supposing this to be a mistake, as it cannot be imagined to be the tomb Absalom built for himself in his life-time; and it can hardly be believed to have been raised in honour of him in any succeeding age; yet still this would make but two tombs of ancient Jewish righteous men, suffering for truth and virtue, if instead of being a memorial of an unnatural son, it should be understood to be the resting-place of a Prophet, or martyred saint, whereas this same principle has made Mohammedan structures of this kind very numerous. Numerous, however, as these Mohammedan structures are, all their saints have not received this honour, for this writer tells us, that "those whom they reverence as saints are led about, the people kissing their garments, &c.; and after their death, some great man hears of of whose tomb our LORD is speaking lost their lives: It cannot be that a Prophet perish out of Jerusalem; of course there we naturally expect to find their sepulchres. a Matt. xxiii, 35. Rachel's sepulchre seems to be too far off to come into the account, not to say that she died not a death of violeuce. 1 their fame, and makes it an act of devotion to beautify their tombs; or, if they had none, to build one over their grave, wherein they are laid." Every one then of these saints has not a tomb immediately erected over him, though his sanctity was acknowledged and honoured in life; it is not then to be wondered at, that it some time before the persecuted and murdered Jewish Prophets had tombs raised over them, and that some of them might not have been erected till the time, or very near the time of our LORD. was To the observations relating to the numerousness of the tombs of the Mohammedan saints, and the erecting them from time to time to the honour of such as had been at first neglected, I would add a third, respecting the garnishing those that had been before built. This possibly may be understood of the whitening them, which is commonly done in Barbary, and of which practice our LORD makes mention Mat. xxiii. 27: but as this among the Jews seems to have been universal, all tombs being whitened, in order to give warning to people not to approach too nigh, lest they should, according to the Jewish ritual, be defiled; the word garnishing seems to mean some different way of beautifying. The Mohammedan sepulchres of their saints are at least not only whitened, but otherwise < P. 55. Shaw's Trav. p, 219, 220. adorned. It is to be considered, whether the Jewish way of garnishing them was the same. Among the Mohammedans, the tombs of their saints are adorned with lamps. Pitts says, it is a mistake in those who have affirmed that there are no less than 3000 lamps about the tomb of Mohammed, their great saint and lawgiver; but he acknowledges it is decked with some lamps, though he believed hardly an hundred in number. And elsewhere supposes that lamps, or wax candles, were used to garnish the tombs of their less celebrated saints, for he tells us, that the Algerines, when in the Straight's-mouth, are wont " to make a gathering of small wax candles, which they usually carry with them, and bind them in a bundle; and then, together with a pot of oil, throw them overboard, as a present to the marabbot, or saint, which lies entombed there on the Barbary shore, near the sea, and hath so done for many scores of years, as they are taught to believe; not in the least doubting, but the present will come safe to the marabbot's hands." p. 17. The tomb assuredly was never illuminated by these candles nor this oil, but the practice shows in what manner they would wish to garnish the tombs of their righteous men. This is confirmed by what he says in the next page, where he informs us, that in time of distress and danger, they collect money, and wrap it in a f P. 156. & He mentions his observing the like done in the Red Sea, in honour of another marab. bot interred on the shore there, p. 114. piece of linen cloth, and make it fast to the ancient-staff of the ship, so dedicating it to some marabbot; and there it abides until the arrival of the ship, when they bestow it in candles, or oil to give light, or in some ornament, to beautify the marabbot's sepulchre. For these marabbots have generally a little neat room built over their graves, resembling in figure their mosques or churches, which is very nicely cleansed, and well looked after," &c. So Mr. Maundrell tells us, that at Damascus he was shewn an old tomb, said to be Ananias's, but how he came to be buried there his guide could not tell, nor he guess: "however, the Turks have a reverence for his tomb, and maintain a lamp always burning over it.” Pitts, in some of the preceding citations, supposes the money that was collected in times of danger, and dedicated to some marabbot, which was frequently laid out in candles or oil to illuminate the sepulchre of the marabbot, was sometimes bestowed in the purchase of some other ornament, but mentions no particulars. Other writers give us however an account of several. A carpet, more or less valuable, is wont to cover the tomb itself, over which the sepulchral building, or vaulted chapel, is erected. This tomb is made like a great chest, or one of our altartombs, to which carpet is sometimes annexed other ornaments. So Maundrell, speaking of a h P. 13 |