latter part of the ring, which generally consists of twenty or more persons. At frequent intervals the party stops for a few minutes; and during each of these pauses, a boy or man, one of the persons who compose the ring, sings a few words of an epithalamium. The sounds of the drums, and the shrill notes of the hautboy (which the bride hears half an hour or more before the procession arrives at the house), cease during these songs. The train is closed, as in the former case, by a second group of musicians. In the manner above described, the bridegroom’s zeffeh is most commonly conducted; but there is another mode, that is more respectable, called “zeffeh sádátee,” which signifies “the gentlemen’s zeffeh.” In this, the bridegroom is accompanied by his friends in the same manner as before related, and attended and preceded by men bearing mesh’als, but not by musicians: in the place of these are about six or eight men, who, from their being employed as singers on occasions of this kind, are called “wilád el-läyálee,” or “sons of the nights.” Thus attended, he goes to the mosque; and while he returns slowly thence to his house, the singers above mentioned chant, or rather sing, “muweshshahs” (or lyric odes) in praise of the Prophet. Having returned to the house, these same persons chant portions of the Kur-án, one after another, for the amusement of the guests; then, all together, recite the opening chapter (the Fát’hah); after which one of them sings a “kaseedeh” (or short poem) in praise of the Prophet: lastly, all of them again sing muweshshahs. After having thus performed, they receive “nukoot” (or contributions of money) from the bridegroom and his friends.