Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 20, SUI-ZYM

TOM [ 4Si ] TON
mb. public roads ‘vvas common among the Romans alfo j
i. y——' jience their epitaphs frequently began with Sifte viator.
Highways were made choice of probably for two rea-
fons: x. That the dead might not be offenlive or injure
the health of the living, which they certainly would if
buried in towns or populous places ; and, idly, That
they might hold out to travellers a leffon of mortality,
and teach the ruftic moralift t*) die.
As it would fwell this article to too’^reat a fize
to deferibe all the different kinds of tombs which
have been ufed by different nations and ages, we mult
content ourfelveS with fhortly deferibing the tombs of
a few nations, and adding a few concomitant circum-
itances.
The tombs of the Parfees are lingular. The deceafed,
after lying a proper time in his own houfe, for the pur-
pofes of mourning, is carried, followed by his relations
and friends, the females chanting a requiem, and depo-
iited in a tomb of the following conftrudtion. It is a
circular building, open at top, about 55 feet diameter,
and 2$ feet in height, filled to within 5 feet of the top,
excepting a well of 15 feet diameter in the centre. The
part fo filled is terraced, with a flight declivity toward
the well. Two circular grooves three inches deep are
railed round the well; the firft at the diftance of four,
the fecond at ten, feet from the well. Grooves of the
like depth or height, and four feet diftant from each
other at the outer part of the outer circle, are carried
ilraight from the wall to the well, communicating with
the circular ones, for the purpofe of carrying off the
water, &c. The tomb, by this means, is divided into
three circles of partitions : the outer, about feven feet
by four : the middle fix by three : the inner, four by
two : the outer for the men, the middle for the women,
the inner for the children ; in which the bodies are re-
fpe&ively placed, wrapped loofely in a piece of cloth,
and left to be devoured by the vultures \ which is very
foon done, as numbers of thofe animals are always feen
hovering and watching about thefe charnel houfes, in
expeflation of their prey. The friends of the deceafed,
er the perfons who have charge of the tomb, come at
the proper time, and throw the bones into their recep¬
tacle, the well in the centre j for which purpofe, iron
rakes and tongs are depofited in the tomb. The en¬
trance is clofed by an iron door, four feet fquare, on the
eaftern fide, as high up as the terrace, to which a road
is raifed. Upon the wall, above the door, an additional
wall is raifed, to prevent people from looking into the
tomb, which the Parfees are particularly careful to pre¬
vent. A Perfian infeription is on a ftone inferted over
the door, which we once copied, but have forgotten its
tenor. From the bottom of the wall fubterraneous paf-
fages lead to receive the bones, &c. and prevent the
well from filling.
Of the ancient fepulchres found in Rufliaand Siberia,
fome are perfect tumuli, raifed to an enormous height,
^ *0/0. wlflle others are almoft level with the ground. Some of
S' rol. vii.them are encompaffed with a fquare w’all of large quarry
ftones placed in an ere£t pofition ; others are covered
only with a fmall heap of ftones, or they are tumuli
adorned with ftones at top. Sc me are walled with brick
within, and vaulted over j others are no more than pits
or common graVes. In fome the earth is excavated feve-
ral fathoms deep j others, and efpecially thofe which are
topped by a lofty tumulus, are only dug of a fufircient Tcrrsfr
depth for covering the carcafe. In many of thefe fe- J1(
pulchres the bones of men, and frequently of horfes, , j"t '
are found, and in a condition that renders it probable
the bodies were not burnt before they were inhumed.
Other bones ftiow clearly that they have been pre-
vioufly burnt; becaufe a part of them is unconfirmed,
and becaufe they lie in a difordered manner, and fume
of them are wanting. Urns, in which other nations of
antiquity have depofited the alhes of their dead, are
never met with here. But fometimes what remained
of their bodies after the combuftion, and even whole
carcafes, are found wrapped up in thin plates of gold.
Many dead bodies are frequently feen depofited toge¬
ther in one tomb ; a certain indication that either a
battle had been fought in the neighbourhood of the
place, or that fome families buried their relations in an
hereditary tomb.
The Moors, like all other Mahometans, hold it
contrary to the fpirit of religion to bury their dead in
mofques, and to profane the temple of the Moft High
by the putrefadfion of dead bodies. In the infancy of
the church the Chriftians had the like refpeiff for their c! e,ner'*y
temples. The burial grounds of the Mahometans are
without the city •, the emperors have their fepulchres
diftinft and diftant from the mofque, in fanfluaries,
built' by themfelves : their tombs are exceedingly
Ample.
All Mahometans inter the dead at the hour fet apart
for prayer. The defunft is not kept in the houfe, ex¬
cept he expires after funfet 5 but the body is tranfport-
ed to the mofque, whither it is carried by thofe who are
going to prayer. Each, from a fpirit of devotion, is
defirous to carry in his turn. The Moors fing at their
burial ferviee ; which ufage perhaps they have imita¬
ted after the Chriftians of Spain. They have no par¬
ticular colour appropriated to mourning. Women re¬
gularly go on the Friday to weep over and pray at
the fepulchres of the dead, whofe memory they hold
dear.
Among the northern nations it was cuftomary to
bury their dead under heaps of ftones called cairns, or
under barrows : (See the articles Catrns and Bar-
row). The inhabitants of Tibet, it is laid, neither
bury nor burn their dead j but expofe them on the tops
of mountains. See Tibet.
TOMBUCTOO, a city of Africa, and capital of a
rich and populous country, fituated near the Niger, in
E. Long. 1. 30. and N. Lat. 16. 30. Some manufac¬
tures, particularly that of cotton cloth, are carried on in
Tombuftoo *, and it has a confiderable trade with the
caravans. It is governed by a king, who has a guard
of 3000 Irorfe. The country around abounds with wheat
and barley, with numerous herds of cattle, fo that milk
and butter are in great plenty.
TOMPION, a fort of bung or cork ufed to flop the
mouth of a cannon. At fea this is carefully encircled
with tallow or putty, to prevent the penetration of the
water info the bore, whereby the powder contained in
the chamber might be damaged or rendered incapable
of fervice.
TON, a meafure or weight. See Tun.
TONE, or Tune, in Mujic, a property of found,
whereby it comes under the relation of grave and acute /
3 L 3 or