nd their graves, as the
seeds of these plants were supposed to nourish the dead. Mourners, too,
wore flowers at the funeral rites, and Homer relates how the Thessalians
used crowns of amaranth at the burial of Achilles. The Romans were
equally observant, and Ovid, when writing from the land of exile, prayed
his wife--"But do you perform the funeral rites for me when dead, and
offer chaplets wet with your tears. Although the fire shall have changed
my body into ashes, yet the sad dust will be sensible of your pious
affection." Like the Greeks, the Romans set a special value on the rose
as a funeral flower, and actually left directions that their graves
should be planted with this favourite flower, a custom said to have been
introduced by them into this country. Both Camden and Aubrey allude to
it, and at the present day in Wales white roses denote the graves of
young unmarried girls.

Coming down to modern times, we find the periwinkle, nicknamed "death's
flower," scattered over the graves of children in Italy--notably
Tuscany--and in some parts of Germany the pink is in request for this
purpose. In Persia we read of:--

"The basil-tuft that waves
Its fragrant blossoms over graves;"

And among the Chinese, roses, the anemone, and a species of lycoris are
planted over graves. The Malays use a kind of basil, and in Tripoli
tombs are adorned with such sweet and fragrant flowers as the orange,
jessamine, myrtle, and rose. In Mexico the Indian carnation is popularly
known as the "flower of the dead," and the people of Tahiti cover their
dead with choice flowers. In America the Freemasons place twigs of
acacia on the coffins of brethren. The Buddhists use flowers largely for
funeral purposes, and an Indian name for the tamarisk is the "messenger
of Yama," the Indian God of Death. The people of Madagascar have a
species of mimosa, which is frequently found growing on the tombs, and
in Norway the funeral plants are juniper and fir. In France the custom
very largely nourishes, roses and orange-blossoms in the southern
provinces being placed in the coffins of the young. Indeed, so general
is the practice in France that, "sceptics and believers uphold it, and
statesmen, and soldiers, and princes, and scholars equally with children
and maidens are the objects of it."

Again, in Oldenburg, it is said that cornstalks must be scattered about
a house in which death has entered, as a charm against further
misfortune, and in