th a kind of mosaic of human skulls and bones.

Cemeteries have been in use among many Eastern nations from time
immemorial. In China, the high grounds near Canton and Macao are crowded
with tombs, many of them being in the form of small tumuli, with a low
encircling wall, forcibly recalling the ringed barrows of western
Europe. But the most picturesque cemeteries in the world are those of
the Turks. From them it was, perhaps, that the first idea of the modern
cemetery, with its ornamental plantations, was derived. Around
Constantinople the cemeteries form vast tracts of cypress woods under
whose branches stand thousands of tombstones. A grave is never reopened;
a new resting-place is formed for every one, and so the dead now occupy
a wider territory than that which is covered by the homes of the living.
The Turks believe that till the body is buried the soul is in a state of
discomfort, and the funeral, therefore, takes place as soon as possible
after death. No coffin is used, the body is laid in the grave, a few
boards are arranged round it, and then the earth is shovelled in, care
being taken to leave a small opening extending from the head of the
corpse to the surface of the ground, an opening not unfrequently
enlarged by dogs and other beasts which plunder the grave. A tombstone
of white marble is then erected, surmounted by a carved turban in the
case of a man, and ornamented by a palm branch in low relief if the
grave is that of a woman. The turban by its varying form indicates not
only the rank of the sleeper below but also the period of his death, for
the fashion of the Turkish head-dress is always changing. A cypress is
usually planted beside the grave, its odour being supposed to neutralize
any noxious exhalations from the ground, and thus every cemetery is a
forest, where by day hundreds of turtle doves are on the wing or
perching on the trees, and where bats and owls swarm undisturbed at
night. Especially for the Turkish women the cemeteries are a favourite
resort, and some of them are always to be seen praying beside the narrow
openings that lead down into a parent's, a husband's, or a brother's
grave. Some of the other cemeteries of Constantinople contrast rather
unfavourably with the simple dignity of those which belong to the Turks.
That of the Armenians abounds with bas-reliefs which show the manner of
the death of whoever is buried below, and on these singular tombstones
there are frequent representati