bright colours, such as red, green, and blue, and sometimes varied with gilding; but the greater part of the wood-work is generally left unpainted. The ḳá´ah is a large and lofty apartment, commonly having two leewáns on opposite sides of the durḳá´ah. One of these is in most instances larger than the other, and is held to be the more honourable part. Some ḳá´ahs, containing three leewáns, one of these being opposite the entrance, or four leewáns composing the form of a cross with the durḳá´ah in the centre, communicate with the small chambers or closets, or have elevated recesses which are furnished in the same manner as the leewáns. That part of the roof which is over the durḳá´ah rises above the rest, sometimes to nearly twice the height of the latter, and is generally surmounted by a lantern of wooden lattice-work to admit the air. The prohibition of wine, or rather of fermented and intoxicating liquors, being one of the most remarkable and characteristic points of the Mohammadan religion, it might be imagined that the frequent stories in the "Thousand and One Nights," describing parties of Muslims as habitually indulging in the use of forbidden beverages, are scandalous misrepresentations of Arab manners and customs. There are, however, many similar anecdotes interspersed in the works of Arab historians, which (though many of them are probably untrue in their application to particular individuals) could not have been offered to the public by such writers if they were not of a nature consistent with the customs of a considerable class of the Arab nation. In investigating this subject, it is necessary in the first place to state that there is a kind of wine which Muslims are permitted to drink. It is properly called nebeedh (a name which is _now_ given to _prohibited_ kinds of wine), and is generally prepared by putting dry grapes, or dry dates, in water, to extract their sweetness, and suffering the liquor to ferment slightly until it acquires a little sharpness or pungency. The Prophet himself was in the habit of drinking wine of this kind, which was prepared for him in the first part of the night; he drank it on the first and second days following; but if any remained on the morning of the third day, he either gave it to his servants or ordered it to be poured out upon the ground.[156] Such beverages have, therefore, been drunk by the strictest of his followers; and Ibn-Khaldoon strongly argues that nebeedh thus prepared from dates was the kind of wine used by the Khaleefehs Hároon Er-Rasheed and El-Ma-moon, and several other eminent men, who have been commonly accused of habitually and publicly indulging in debauches of wine properly so called, that is, of inebriating liquors.[157]