Thus finished a Shaut, or single course round the house. Of these we performed the first three at the pace called Harwalah, very similar to the French pas gymnastique, or Tarammul, that is to say, “moving the shoulders as if walking in sand.” The four latter are performed in Ta’ammul, slowly and leisurely; the reverse of the Sai, or running. These seven Ashwat, or courses, are called collectively one Usbu ([Arabic]). The Moslem origin of this custom is too well known to require mention. After each Taufah[,] or circuit, we, being unable to kiss or even to touch the Black Stone, fronted towards it, raised our hands to our ears, exclaimed, “In the Name of Allah, and Allah is omnipotent!” kissed our fingers, and resumed the ceremony of circumambulation, as before, with “Allah, in Thy Belief,” &c. At the conclusion of the Tawaf it was deemed advisable to attempt to kiss the stone. For a time I stood [p.168] looking in despair at the swarming crowd of Badawi and other pilgrims that besieged it. But the boy Mohammed was equal to the occasion. During our circuit he had displayed a fiery zeal against heresy and schism, by foully abusing every Persian in his path[FN#8]; and the inopportune introduction of hard words into his prayers made the latter a strange patchwork; as “Ave Maria purissima,—arrah, dont ye be letting the pig at the pot,—sanctissima,” and so forth. He might, for instance, be repeating “And I take Refuge with Thee from Ignominy in this World,” when “O thou rejected one, son of the rejected!” would be the interpolation addressed to some long-bearded Khorasani,—“And in that to come”—“O hog and brother of a hoggess!” And so he continued till I wondered that none dared to turn and rend him. After vainly addressing the pilgrims, of whom nothing could be seen but a mosaic of occupits and shoulder-blades, the boy Mohammed collected about half a dozen stalwart Meccans, with whose assistance, by sheer strength, we wedged our way into the thin and light-legged crowd. The Badawin turned round upon us like wild-cats, but