5. With the practices above mentioned, modern Ori- ental customs in great measure agree. D'Arvieux says Arab men are silent in grief, but the women scream, tear their hair, hands, and face, and throw earth or sand on their heads. The older women wear a blue veil and an old abba by way of mourning garments. They also sing the praises of the deceased (Trav. p. 269, 270). Nie- buhr says both Mohammedans and Christians in Egypt hire wailing women, and wail at stated times {Voy. i, 150). Burckhardt says the women of Atbara, in Nubia, shave their heads on the death of their nearest relatives, a custom prevalent also among several of the peasant tribes of Upper Egypt. In Barbary on a death they usu- ally kill a sheep, a cow, or a camel. He also mentions wailing women, and a man in distress besmearing his face with dirt and dust in token of grief {Nubia, p. 176, 226, 374). Speaking of the Arab tribes of Upper Egypt, he says, " I have seen the female relations of a deceased man dance before his house with sticks and lances in their hands, and behaving like furious soldiers" {Notes
on Bed. i, 280). Shaw says of the Arabs of Barbary, after a funeral the female relations during the space of two or three months go once a week to weep over the grave and offer eatables (see Ecclus. xxx, 18). He also mentions mourning women {Trav. p. 220, 242). "In Oman," Wellsted says, " there are no hired mourning women, but the females from the neighborhood assem- ble after a funeral and continue for eight days, from sunrise to sunset, to utter loud lamentations" {Trav. i, 216). In the A rabian Nights are frequent allusions to similar practices, as rending clothes, throwing dust on the head, cutting off the hair, loud exclamation, visits to the tomb, plucking the hair and beard (i, 65, 263, 297, 358, 518 ; ii, 237, 854, 409). They also mention ten days and forty days as periods of mourning (i, 427 ; ii, 409). Sir J. Chardin, speaking of Persia, says the tombs are visited periodically by women ( Voy. vi, 489). He speaks also of the tumult at a death {ibid. 482). Mourning lasts forty days : for eight days a fast is observed, and visits are paid by friends to the bereaved relatives; on the ninth day the men go to the bath, shave the head and beard, and return the visits, but the lamentation contin- ues two or three times a week till the fortieth day. The mourning garments are dark-colored, but never black {;ibid. 481). Russell, speaking of the Turks at Aleppo, says, "The instant the death takes place, the women who are in the chamber give the alarm by shrieking as if distracted, and are joined by all the other females in the harem. This conclamation is termed the wulwaly (Heb. bb'i, Gr. oXoXiJ^w, a\akdZ,i», Lat. ejulo, ululo, an onomatopoetic word common to many languages. See Gesen. p. 596; Schoebel, Anal-Constif. p. 54 ; and Russell, vol. i, note 83, chiefly from Schultens) : it is so shrill as to be heard, especially in the night, at a prodigious dis- tance. The men disapprove of and take no share in it ; they drop a few tears, assume a resigned silence, and retire in private. Some of the near female relations, when apprised of what has happened, repair to the house, and the wulwaly, -which had paused for some time, is renewed upon the entrance of each visitant into the harem" (.4 leppo, i, 306). He also mentions profes- sional mourners, visits to the grave on the third, sev- enth, and fortieth days, prayers at the tomb, flo^vers strewn, and food distributed to the poor. At these vis- its the shriek of wailing is renewed ; the chief mourner appeals to the deceased, and reproaches him fondly for his departure. The men make no change in their dress; the women lay aside their jewels, dress in their plainest garments, and wear on the head a handkerchief of a dusky color. They usually mourn twelve months for a husband and six for a father {ibid. 311,312). Of the Jews he says the conclamation is practiced by the wom- en, but hired mourners are seldom called in to assist at the wulwaly. Both sexes make some alteration in dress by way of mourning. The women lay aside their jewels, the men make a small rent in their outer vest- ment {ibid, ii, 86, 87). Lane, speaking of the modern Egyptians, says, " After death the women of the family raise cries of lamentation called welweleh or wilwal, uttering the most piercing shrieks, and calling upon the name of the deceased, 'Oh, my master! Oh, my resource! Oh, my misfortune ! Oh, my glory' (see Jen xxii, 18). The females of the neighborhood come to join with them in this conclamation: generally, also, the family send for two or more nedddbehs, or public wailing women. Each brings a tambourine, and beating them they ex- claim, ' Alas, for him.' The female relatives, domestics, and friends, with their hair dishevelled, and sometimes with rent clothes, beating their faces, cry in like man- ner, 'Alas, for him !' These make no alteration in dress, but women, in some cases, dye their dress, head-veils, and handkerchiefs of a dark-blue color. They visit the tombs at stated periods" {,}fod. Eg. iii, 152, 171, 195). Wealthy families in Cairo have in the burial-grounds regidarly furnislied houses of mourning, to which the females repair at stated periods to bewail their dead.