DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15174#0113
CHAP. XV. TOORKMUN CUSTOMS.
were pleasing. He asked if all Franks were Chris-
tians ; and when I told him they were, he said,
"It is well to follow our own creed: a Jew, a
Christian, a Mahommedan, will be one in death."
Our conversation then turned upon the Toorkmuns;
and he lamented their sale of human beings, since
a difference of religion afforded no just grounds for
such cruelty. " It was a propensity of their race,"
said he; " for their dispositions were wicked, and
they listened not to his advice. But am I speaking
to a ' Firingee?'" said the aged man, abruptly in-
terrupting himself; " I have never before seen one;
and how should I in so remote a country ? Where
is the country of the Franks ; and where is the
desert of the Toorkmuns ? There must be some-
thing peculiar in our destiny," continued he to muse
aloud with himself, " which has brought you and
me together. Our spirits (roft) must have had in-
tercourse in another world, to meet in this;" a
singular remark. After travelling together for
about three miles, we stopped at a mound of earth
with a pole stuck in the centre, and several of which
we had already seen. "What is this?" enquired
I. " It is called a Yoozka; and marks the place
where some one has died or been laid out as a
corpse. The Toorkmuns say a blessing as they
pass the spot, and hope for the favour of the de-
ceased. It is an old custom among us, and you will
see many others as you advance." They are not
graves, but mounds or barrows raised in honour of
the dead. I entertain an impression that the usage
is Tatar; but I had no opportunity of further in-
VOL. III. H
were pleasing. He asked if all Franks were Chris-
tians ; and when I told him they were, he said,
"It is well to follow our own creed: a Jew, a
Christian, a Mahommedan, will be one in death."
Our conversation then turned upon the Toorkmuns;
and he lamented their sale of human beings, since
a difference of religion afforded no just grounds for
such cruelty. " It was a propensity of their race,"
said he; " for their dispositions were wicked, and
they listened not to his advice. But am I speaking
to a ' Firingee?'" said the aged man, abruptly in-
terrupting himself; " I have never before seen one;
and how should I in so remote a country ? Where
is the country of the Franks ; and where is the
desert of the Toorkmuns ? There must be some-
thing peculiar in our destiny," continued he to muse
aloud with himself, " which has brought you and
me together. Our spirits (roft) must have had in-
tercourse in another world, to meet in this;" a
singular remark. After travelling together for
about three miles, we stopped at a mound of earth
with a pole stuck in the centre, and several of which
we had already seen. "What is this?" enquired
I. " It is called a Yoozka; and marks the place
where some one has died or been laid out as a
corpse. The Toorkmuns say a blessing as they
pass the spot, and hope for the favour of the de-
ceased. It is an old custom among us, and you will
see many others as you advance." They are not
graves, but mounds or barrows raised in honour of
the dead. I entertain an impression that the usage
is Tatar; but I had no opportunity of further in-
VOL. III. H