It is believed that the chief abode of the Jinn is in the Mountains of Ḳáf, which are supposed to encompass the whole of our earth. But they are also believed to pervade the solid body of our earth, and the firmament; and to choose as their principal places of resort or of occasional abode, baths, wells, ovens, ruined houses, market-places, the junctures of roads, the sea, and rivers. The Arabs, therefore, when they pour water on the ground, or enter a bath, or let down a bucket into a well, and on various other occasions, say "Permission!" or "Permission, ye blessed!" (Destoor! or Destoor yá mubárakeen![42])The evil spirits (or evil Jinn), it is said, had liberty to enter any of the seven heavens till the birth of Jesus, when they were excluded from three of them: on the birth of Moḥammad they were forbidden the other four.[43] They continue, however, to ascend to the confines of the lowest heaven, and there listening to the conversation of the Angels respecting things decreed by God, obtain knowledge of futurity, which they sometimes impart to men, who, by means of talismans, or certain invocations, make them to serve the purposes of magical performances. What the Prophet said of Iblees, in the following tradition, applies also to the evil Jinn over whom he presides:--His chief abode [among men] is the bath; his chief places of resort are the markets, and the junctures of roads; his food is whatever is killed without the name of God being pronounced over it; his drink, whatever is intoxicating; his muëddin, the mizmár (a musical pipe, _i.e._ any musical instrument); his Ḳur-án, poetry; his written character, the marks made in geomancy;[44] his speech, falsehood; his snares, women.[45] That particular Jinn presided over particular places was an opinion of the early Arabs. It is said in the Ḳur-án, "And there were certain men who sought refuge with certain of the Jinn."[46] In the Commentary of the Jeláleyn, I find the following remark on these words:--"When they halted on their journey in a place of fear, each man said, 'I seek refuge with the lord of this place, from the mischief of his foolish ones!'" In illustration of this, I may insert the following tradition, translated from El-Ḳazweenee:--"It is related by a certain narrator of traditions, that he descended into a valley with his sheep, and a wolf carried off a ewe from among them; and he arose, and raised his voice, and cried, 'O inhabitant of the valley!' whereupon he heard a voice saying, 'O wolf, restore to him his sheep!' and the wolf came with the ewe, and left her and departed." The same opinion is held by the modern Arabs, though probably they do not use such an invocation. A similar superstition, a relic of ancient Egyptian credulity, still prevails among the people of Cairo. It is believed that each quarter of this city has its peculiar guardian-genius, or Agathodaemon, which has the form of a serpent.[47]