sicknesses and diseases, excepting the sickness of death.” I have seen here another cup which appeared to have been exactly similar to that above mentioned, but its inscriptions were partly effaced. The secret virtues of the Kur-án are believed to be very numerous. One day, on my refusing to eat of a dish that I feared would do me harm, I was desired to repeat the Soorat Kureysh (106th chapter of the Kur-án) to the end of the words “supplieth them with food against hunger,” and to repeat these last words three times. This, I was assured, would be a certain preventive of any harm that I might have feared. There are various things which are regarded in the same light as written charms; such as dust from the tomb of the Prophet, water from the sacred well of Zemzem, in the Temple of Mekkeh, and pieces of the black brocade covering of the Kaabeh.[387] The water of Zemzem is much valued for the purpose of sprinkling upon grave-clothes.—An Arab, to whom I had given some medicine which had been beneficial to him, in the Sa’eed, during my former visit to this country, heard me inquire for some Zemzem-water (as several boats full of pilgrims on their return from Mekkeh were coming down the Nile), and perhaps thought, from my making this inquiry, that I was a pious Muslim: accordingly, to show his gratitude to me, he gave me what I was seeking to obtain. Having gone to the house of a friend, he returned to my boat, bringing a small bundle, which he opened before me. “Here,” said he, “are some things which I know you will value highly. Here are two tin flasks of the water of Zemzem: one of them you shall have: you may keep it to sprinkle your grave-clothing with it. This is a ‘miswák’ (a tooth-stick) dipped in the water of Zemzem: accept it from me: clean your teeth with it, and they will never ache, nor decay. And here,” he added (showing me three small, oblong and flat cakes, of a kind of greyish earth, each about an inch in length, and stamped with Arabic characters, “In the name of God! Dust of our land [mixed] with the saliva of some of us”), “these are composed of earth from over the grave of the Prophet (God favour and preserve him!): I purchased them myself in the noble tomb, on my return from the pilgrimage: one of them I give to you: you will find it a cure for every disease: the second I shall keep for myself; and the third we will eat together.”—Upon this, he broke in halves one of the three cakes; and we each ate our share. I agreed with him (though I had read the inscription) that it was delicious; and I gladly accepted his presents. I was afterwards enabled to make several additions to my Mekkeh curiosities; comprising a piece of the covering of the Kaabeh, brought from Mekkeh by the sheykh Ibráheem (Burckhardt), and given to me by his legatee ’Osmán. A cake composed of dust from the Prophet’s tomb is sometimes sewed up in a leather case, and worn as an amulet. It is also formed into lumps of the