Just before Ramazān a good many people are fasting, having put off to the last minute the making-up of the fast days for the previous Ramazān. People who want to be very good sometimes fast on Saints’ Days too, and one old lady always fasted on the day when Muhammadan tradition says that our Lord Jesus Christ was born. Another way in which Muhammadans think they can gain merit is by making a pilgrimage to some holy place. Pilgrimages may be made to any place where a Muhammadan saint is buried, but there are four special places to which the Persians go--Qum, Meshed, Kerbela, and Mecca. Mecca is considered far the greatest place of pilgrimage, because it is the place where Muhammad was born. A pilgrimage to Qum gives the pilgrim no commonly used title, but if he goes to Meshed he becomes _Meshedi_; if to Kerbela, _Kerbelāī_; and, if to Mecca, _Hājī_; and a _Hājī_ always uses his title. In accosting a working-class stranger it is polite to call him _Meshedi_, and more polite to call him _Kerbelāī_, but _Hājī_ is too important a title to be used in this way. Quite little boys and girls are sometimes _Hājīs_--they have been taken to Mecca by their parents. But the people who most frequently go are the business men and the old people. The business men manage to make a business journey, which will include Mecca, and the old people, old women especially, are often sent as a polite way of getting rid of them when they are cranky and ill-tempered. If they die on the way, they are supposed to go straight to Heaven. A good many do die on the road, which is a very rough one. It reminds one of the man who said of his enemies that he should like to convert them and send them to Heaven before they had time to backslide. One day in a _caravansarai_, or native inn, I met a young woman who told me a friend who was going on a pilgrimage had passed through her village and had persuaded her to come too. She was going to walk all the way and trust to charity for food, as many pilgrims do, for it is considered a greater work of merit to give to a pilgrim than to an ordinary beggar. The journey would take several months. I asked her a few questions. Yes, she said, she had a husband and children. “And are they with you?” “No, they are in my village.” “Are the children grown-up then?” “Oh no, they are quite little.” “Then who is going to take care of them while you are away?” “I do not know. There was no time to make arrangements. I had not even time to tell my husband I was going. He was at work. My friends tell me it will be a very great work of merit if I go. What do you think?” We had a long talk, and I believe she went back the same evening to her home. If so, she would get back within twenty-four hours of having left it.