Note 79 — Chapter III · THE FAMILIARITY OF THE REGIONS OF THE EARTH WITH THE TRIPLICITIES AND THE PLANETS

It does not appear why this practice should have been remarked as a national peculiarity, unless in distinction from the custom of burning the dead among the Greeks and Romans. Interment is recorded as having been usual among the Jews, and it is known to have been common among many ancient barbarous nations.

A conjecture may perhaps be allowed, that the author, when he wrote this passage, had in his mind the magnificent subterranean palaces, constructed for the dead, in parts of the region in question; some of which have been recently made known to the modern world by the sagacity and enterprise of the celebrated Belzoni.