In Walking About These Extensive Cemeteries, I Found Many Other Tomb-
Stones With Cufic Inscriptions, But Not In A Very Ancient Character.
I
could decipher no date prior to the sixth century of the Hedjra (the
twelfth of our era); but the greater part of them contain mere prayers,
without either the name of the deceased, or a date.
The tombs, in
general, are formed of four large stones placed in an oblong square,
with a broad stone set upright at one end, bearing the inscription. I
saw no massive tomb or turban cut in stone, or any such ornament as is
used in other parts of Asia. A few small buildings have been raised by
the first families of Mekka, to enclose the tombs of their relations;
they are paved inside, but have no roof, and are of the most simple
construction. In two or three of them I found trees planted, which are
irrigated from cisterns built within the enclosure for the reception of
rain-water: here, the families to whom they belong sometimes pass the
day. Of several buildings, surmounted with domes, in which men
celebrated for their learning had been interred, the domes were
invariably broken down by the Wahabys: these fanatics, however, never
touched the tombs themselves, and every where respected the remains of
the dead. Among the tombs are those of several Pashas of Syria and of
Egypt, constructed with little ornament.
At the extremity of almost every tomb, opposite to the epitaph, I found
the low shrub saber, a species of aloe, planted in the ground:
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