demand, lest some misfortune should befall me. Men of this class are supported by alms, which they often receive without asking for them. A reputed saint is commonly called “sheykh,” “murábit,” or “welee.” If affected with lunacy or idiotcy, or of weak intellect, he is also, and more properly, termed “megzoob,” or “mesloob.” “Welee” is an appellation correctly given only to an eminent and very devout saint; and signifies “a favourite of heaven;” but it is so commonly applied to real or pretended idiots, that some wit has given it a new interpretation, as equivalent to “beleed,” which means “a fool” or “simpleton;” remarking that these two terms are equivalent both in sense and in the numerical value of the letters composing them: for “welee” is written with the letters “wä′w,” “lám,” and “yé,” of which the numerical values are 6, 30, and 10, or, together, 46; and “beleed” is written with “bé,” “lám,” “yé,” and “dál,” which are 2, 30, 10, and 4, or, added together, 46. A simpleton is often jestingly called a welee. The Muslims of Egypt, in common with those of other countries, entertain very curious superstitions respecting the persons whom they call welees. I have often endeavoured to obtain information on the most mysterious of these superstitions; and have generally been answered, “You are meddling with the matters of the ‘tareekah,’” or the religious course of the darweeshes; but I have been freely acquainted with general opinions on these subjects, and such are perhaps all that may be required to be stated in a work like the present: I shall, however, also relate what I have been told by learned persons, and by darweeshes, in elucidation of the popular belief. In the first place, if a person were to express a doubt as to the existence of true welees, he would be branded with infidelity; and the following passage of the Kur-án would be adduced to condemn him: “Verily, on the favourites[351] of God no fear shall come, nor shall they grieve.”[352] This is considered as sufficient to prove that there is a class of persons distinguished above ordinary human beings. The question then suggests itself, “Who, or of what description are these persons?” and we are answered, “They are persons wholly devoted to God, and possessed of extraordinary faith; and, according to their degree of faith, endowed with the power of performing miracles.”[353]