which at times sweep with desolating violence into the Holy City, and a thick desert vegetation shows that water is not deep below the surface. [FN#24] The word is explained in many ways. One derivation has already been mentioned. Others assert that when Gabriel taught Abraham the ceremonies, he ended by saying “A’arafata manasik’ak?”—hast thou learned thy pilgrim rites? To which the Friend of Allah replied, “Araftu!”—I have learned them. [FN#25] The latter name, “Ratan,” is servile. Respectable women are never publicly addressed by Moslems except as “daughter,” “female pilgrim,” after some male relation, “O mother of Mohammed,” “O sister of Omar,” or, tout bonnement, by a man’s name. It would be ill-omened and dangerous were the true name known. So most women, when travelling, adopt an alias. Whoever knew an Afghan fair who was not “Nur Jan,” or “Sahib Jan”? [FN#26] The British reader will be shocked to hear that by the term “fatted ass” the intellectual lady alluded to her husband. The story is that Mu’awiyah, overhearing the song, sent back the singer to her cousin and beloved wilds. Maysunah departed with her son Yazid, and did not return to Damascus till the “fatted ass” had joined his forefathers. Yazid inherited, with his mother’s talents, all her contempt for his father; at least the following quatrain, addressed to Mu’awiyah, and generally known in Al-Islam, would appear to argue anything but reverence:— “I drank the water of the vine: that draught had power to rouse Thy wrath, grim father! now, indeed, ’tis joyous to carouse! I’ll drink!—Be wroth!—I reck not!—Ah! dear to this heart of mine It is to scoff a sire’s command, to quaff forbidden wine.” [p.192] CHAPTER XXIX. THE CEREMONIES OF THE YAUM ARAFAT, OR THE SECOND DAY. THE morning of the ninth Zu’l Hijjah (Tuesday, 13th Sept.) was ushered in by military sounds: a loud discharge of cannon warned us to arise and to prepare for the ceremonies of this eventful day. After ablution and prayer, I proceeded with the boy Mohammed to inspect the numerous consecrated sites on the “Mountain of Mercy.” In the first place, we repaired to a spot on rising ground to the south-east, and within a hundred yards of the hill. It is called “Jami al-Sakhrah[FN#1]”—the Assembling Place of the Rock—from two granite boulders upon which the Prophet stood to perform “Talbiyat.” There is nothing but a small enclosure of dwarf and whitewashed stone walls, divided into halves for men and women by a similar partition, and provided with a niche to direct prayer towards Meccah. Entering by steps, we found crowds of devotees and guardians, who for a consideration offered mats and carpets. After a two-bow prayer and a long supplication opposite the niche, we retired to the inner compartment, stood upon a boulder and shouted the “Labbayk.” Thence, threading our way through many obstacles