The practice of washing the hands before meals is derived from the same source; and for this reason every one who has touched a dead person must withdraw frcim human society, because he is impure—that is, origin ally, taboo, interdicted, sacred—and can return only after a specified time and after certain ablutions. Therefore such classes as arc occupied with dead animals, as butchers, tanners, etc., are impure and despised—at first permanent on account of the daily renewal of their occupation with the slaughtered, despised on account of the separation. That barbers and leeches belong to these " impure" castes is not because they have an unclean profession, but because, on account of being continually occu pied with the hair (the leeches dressed the body), they became "taboo;" for everywhere among these tribes the hair is sacred, for which reason it is given to the dead as an offering: many tribes of the Arabs sacrifice the hair of the forehead to the gods. Similar uses existed among the Jews; e.g. the Nazarites wore during the term of their vow unshorn locks, which at its expiration were cut off and burned on the altar (Num. vi. 5, 13; Judg. xiii. 5). The ceremonial washing of the hands which the Pharisees practised, and which Christ strongly rebuked (Mark vii. 5-16), arose from similar ideas of defilement by touching unclean things and of seculariza tion by ablution.
Offerings and Burials.—The Semites buried their dead in vaults and frequently made offerings at the tombs. The offerings, as well as much that was placed in the graves (for instance, among the Egyptians), were destined for use in the Hereafter. When the Gallas burn a pile of wood on the grave, it is to provide for the soul an easy path into eternity either on the flames or the smoke. Burial-chambers are erected on the suppo sition that the deceased lives on in the vicinity of his body. Both man ners of erecting burial-chambers among the Egyptians exist among the Semites; burial-vaults hewn in the rock were in use among the Guanches, and also among the ancient Jews, as the narratives about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob prove (Gen. xxiii. 9, 17, 19; xlix. 29-32). The grave of Laza rus was also, according to the history of his resuscitation, a subterranean and rather spacious chamber (John xi. 3S). Plate io6 (fig. 5) shows an old Jewish tomb at Tibneh, south-west of Lake Gennesareth. Each arch leads to a separate burial-place; the sculptures no doubt have a religious meaning; the whole may have been erected during one of the last cen turies before Christ. The Arabs of Hauran erect the burial-chambers on the summits of mountains, as these are sacred to the gods.
The graves of the Gallas, as well as of the Somalis, are built of masonry on level ground, and are decorated with mosaics and surrounded with thorn-hedges or stones; the dead are interred in a crouching posture.
This manner of constructing graves forms the transition to the other man ner of building them, which we see artistically complete in the pyramids of the Egyptians. It is clone by heaping together stones so that they may enclose a hollow space in which the corpse is placed. Plate ro6 (fig. 6) shows such a stone tomb of Syria; in the country of the Midsherthaius these heaps of stone are seven or eight feet high and from fifteen to eighteen feet broad, attaining among the Danakil a height of one hun dred feet in a pyramidal shape. Waitz, from whom we take this infor mation, reminds us of the custom of the Hottentots, which is also much practised in the Orient, of throwing a stone on the grave of a famous man, and thus gradually erecting a monument (p. 302).
Punishment by stoning, as also by burying alive, both of which were inflicted only in case of blasphemy—that is, violation of taboo—is nothing more than the erection of a burial-vault in which to isolate the criminal, so that lie may do no harm; personally, they dare not touch him, as, on account of his connection with the taboo, lie pertains to the gods.
Intellectual regard to the mental faculties of this peo ple, a lack of imagination is first perceptible, of which we have spoken (p. 360); and this lack of imagination, together with great mental power, pro duces a susceptibility to exterior impressions and a developed inner life often associated with great sensuousness. This has led the Semite to that enthusiasm through which lie has become the creator of the most important religious of the universe.
Warm piety is everywhere exhibited, and great hospitality and a cer tain sense of chivalry cannot be denied the Berbers and Arabians. Often a pure love of honor is shown in their love of truth, NvIiich, however, has remained unsullied among very few tribes. Furthermore, the great per severance exhibited everywhere by the Semites deserves a special note, whether it be in the carrying out of vast labors (Egypt, Babylon, Nineveh) or in the endurance of physical hardships. This quality has led to admira ble deeds and acts, but may degenerate into apathetic endurance of bad treatment. To this is added a marked passion for property and gain which often disfigures their character.
That the natural surroundings of the Semites (the Desert) have clone much toward developing these traits of character is an opinion often advanced, and perfectly correct. But it follows that the Semitic race must for a long time have dwelt in the Desert, or rather must have been developed there.