letter to his father, and, giving it to Aboo-Ru-oos, asked him to procure an answer to it. The magician took the letter, placed it behind a cushion of his deewán, and, a few minutes after, removing the cushion, showed him that this letter was gone, and that another was in its place. The sheykh El-Emeer took the latter, opened and read it; and found in it, in a handwriting which, he said, he could have sworn to be that of his father, a complete answer to what he had written, and an account of the state of his family which he proved, on his return to Cairo, a few days after, to be perfectly true.[395] A curious case of magic fell under the cognizance of the government during my former visit to this country; and became a subject of general talk and wonder throughout the metropolis. I shall give the story of this occurrence precisely as it was related to me by several persons in Cairo; without curtailing it of any of the exaggerations with which they embellished it; not only because I am ignorant how far it is true, but because I would show how great a degree of faith the Egyptians in general place in magic, or enchantment. Mustaf′a Ed-Digwee, chief secretary in the Kádee’s court, in this city, was dismissed from his office, and succeeded by another person of the name of Mustaf′a, who had been a seyrefee, or money-changer. The former sent a petition to the Básha, begging to be reinstated; but before he received an answer, he was attacked by a severe illness, which he believed to be the effect of enchantment: he persuaded himself that Mustaf′a the seyrefee had employed a magician to write a spell which should cause him to die; and therefore sent a second time to the Básha, charging the new secretary with this crime. The accused was brought before the Básha; confessed that he had done so; and named the magician whom he had employed. The latter was arrested; and, not being able to deny the charge brought against him, was thrown into prison, there to remain until it should be seen whether or not Ed-Digwee would die. He was locked up in a small cell; and two soldiers were placed at the door, that one of them might keep watch while the other slept. Now for the marvellous part of the story.—At night, after one of the guards had fallen asleep, the other heard a strange, murmuring noise, and, looking through a crack of the door of the cell, saw the magician sitting in the middle of the floor, muttering some words which he (the guard) could not understand. Presently, the candle which was before him became extinguished; and, at the same instant, four other candles appeared; one in each corner of the cell. The magician then rose, and, standing on one side of the cell, knocked his forehead three times against the wall; and each time that he did so, the wall opened, and a man appeared to come forth from it. After the magician had conversed for some minutes with the three personages whom he thus produced, they disappeared; as did,