Page:Sixteen years of an artist's life in Morocco, Spain and the Canary Islands.djvu/83

72 which is to decide his final fate pronounced. On their way to the grave, all who take part in the funeral ceremony join in singing verses from the Koran; and on their arrival in the burial-ground, a short prayer is offered up. The corpse is then put into the grave without a coffin, and placed a little on one side, so that the face may look towards Mecca, the right hand being put to the ear of the same side, so as to appear to lean upon it. A little earth is thrown over the body, and the crowd return to the house of the deceased to compliment the relatives. During the ceremony, the women of the family assemble, and continue uninterruptedly to make the most unearthly yellings and hideous outcries, as indeed they have been doing ever since the time of the death. In this exhausting exercise of their lungs, they persevere for no less than eight long days; and as they are, on all other occasions, totally excluded from the public society of men, they eagerly seize on these solemnities for display, and vie with each other in the intensity and duration of their unearthly yells.