When a Kutb dies, he is immediately succeeded in his office by another. Many of the Muslims say that Elijah, or Elias, whom the vulgar confound with El-Khidr,[356] was the Kutb of his time; and that he invests the successive kutbs: for they acknowledge that he has never died; asserting him to have drunk of the Fountain of Life. This particular in their superstitious notions respecting the kutbs, combined with some others which I have before mentioned, is very curious when compared with what we are told, in the Bible, of Elijah, of his being transported from place to place by the spirit of God; of his investing Elisha with his miraculous powers, and his offices; and of the subjection of the other prophets to him and to his immediate successor.[357] Some welees renounce the pleasures of the world, and the society of mankind; and, in a desert place, give themselves up to meditation upon heaven, and prayer; depending upon Divine Providence for their support; but their retreat becomes known; and the Arabs daily bring them food. This, again, reminds us of the history of Elijah: for, in the opinion of some critics, we should read, for the word “ravens,” in the fourth and sixth verses of the seventeenth chapter of the second book of Kings, “Arabs:” “I have commanded the _Arabs_ to feed thee”—“And the _Arabs_ brought him bread,” etc. Certain welees are said to be commissioned by the Kutb to perform offices which, according to the accounts of my informants here, are far from being easy. These are termed “As-háb ed-Darak,” which is interpreted as signifying “watchmen,” or “overseers.” In illustration of their employments, the following anecdote was related to me a few days ago.—A devout tradesman in this city, who was ardently desirous of becoming a welee, applied to a person who was generally believed to belong to this holy class, and implored the latter to assist him to obtain the honour of an interview with the Kutb. The applicant, after having undergone a strict examination as to his motives, was desired to perform the ordinary ablution (el-wudoó), very early the next morning; then to repair to the mosque of El-Mu-eiyad (at an angle of which is the Báb Zuweyleh, or El-Mutawellee, before mentioned), and to lay hold of the first person whom he should see coming out of the great door of this mosque. He did so. The first person who came out was an old, venerable-looking man; but meanly clad; wearing a brown woollen gown (or zaaboot); and this proved to be the Kutb. The candidate kissed his hand, and entreated to be admitted among the As-háb ed-Darak. After much hesitation, the prayer was granted: the Kutb said, “Take charge of the district which consists of the Darb el-Ahmar[358] and its immediate neighbourhood;” and immediately the person thus addressed found himself to be a welee; and perceived that he was acquainted with things concealed from ordinary mortals: for a welee is said to be acquainted by