'Your Honour need not trouble. They are able to distinguish.' 'But they must walk upon our land to reach their trees!' 'Without a doubt.' 'But it is unheard of!' 'Perhaps; but it has been the way since Noah's flood.' 'If your Honour condescends to read the Bible he will notice that, in the bargain which our lord Abraham made for the cave of Machpelah, the trees upon the land are mentioned separately,' put in Suleyman, who had a well-stored mind. I took no notice, but continued my alarmed inquiries. 'How many people own these trees?' 'Twenty or thirty.' 'And they trample on our land?' 'The case is so.' 'Who is their chief?' 'I know not; but the largest share, they say, is vested in Muhammad abu Hasan. His share of all the trees is twelve kirats, as much as all the others put together. They say so. Only Allah knows the truth!' 'I should like to speak to this Muhammad abu Hasan.' 'Upon my head; I go to fetch him,' answered Casim, touching his brow in token of obedience. When he was gone, Suleyman observed significantly: 'Have naught to do with all these fathers of kirats. When once the word "kirat" is mentioned, flee the place, for you may be assured that it is the abode of all bedevilment. When once a man is father of but one or two kirats, he has the power of forty thousand for unreasoning annoyance.' 'And what, in mercy's name, is a kirat?' I questioned. 'A kirat,' replied Rashid, as usual eager to explain, 'is that term into which all things visible and invisible are resolved and subdivided secretly, or may be subdivided at a person's pleasure. A kirat is that which has no real existence unless a group of men agree together saying: "It is here or there." A kirat----'