On the birthday of the Prophet—June 7, according to the Roman calendar—the bey goes in state to the Great Mosque. On this occasion the _souks_ unbar their gates at night and are ablaze with lights from end to end, and the effect is magical. By day the _souks_ of Tunis are only narrow passages with holes in their vaulted roofs, through which the sun pours down on the flagged, uneven pavement. But on the Night of the Prophet they are turned into fairy-land, for hanging from the roofs are cut-glass chandeliers aflame with candles, supplemented by thousands and thousands of diminutive oil-lamps with glass shades of every hue, while the fronts of the shops are concealed beneath priceless silken carpets and wonderful old brocades and embroideries, so that the narrow, tunnel-like lanes are aglow with light and color. The painters have been busy too, the vaultings, pillars, and carven capitals being vivified by the lavish application of vermilion and emerald green; and set before the stalls on either side are rows of richly upholstered divans and benches, piled high with silken pillows, for the use of the merchants and their friends and the musicians whom they have hired. The covered ways resound to the throbbing of string and reed instruments, the chanting of priests, the shrill appeals of holy men and mendicants, and the deep, low hum of countless voices. The approach of the bey is heralded by a fanfare of trumpets and the wild, barbaric strains of a native military band, and, as he passes along the street, guarded by twin files of the Garde Beylicale in their picturesque uniform and followed by a throng of staff-officers, religious dignitaries, and officials, the spectators salaam to the ground, costly rugs are thrown down for him to walk upon, and the flowers which the natives wear behind their ears are cast beneath the feet of this portly, gray-bearded, benevolent-looking old gentleman, his blue uniform glittering with stars and crosses, who is venerated by his subjects as the descendant of the Prophet, the Shadow of God on Earth.