The position that “there is no God but God, and Mahomet is his Prophet,” pervades every part of the Mahometan religion. Banners, like those here described, are preserved in the several mosques; and, on the death of extraordinary persons, are borne before the bier in solemn state.--_Religious Ceremonies_, vol. vii, pp. 119, 120. PAGE 263. _... astrolabes_ The mention of the astrolabe may be deemed incompatible, at first view, with chronological exactness, as there is no instance of any being constructed by a Mussulman, till after the time of Vathek. It may, however, be remarked, to go no higher, that Sinesius, bishop of Ptolemais, invented one in the fifth century; and that Carathis was not only herself a Greek, but also cultivated those sciences which the good Mussulmans of her time all held in abhorrence.--BAILLY, _Hist. de l’Astronom. Moderne_, tom, i, pp. 563, 573. PAGE 264. _On the banks of the stream, hives and oratories_ The bee is an insect held in high veneration amongst the Mahometans, it being pointed out in the Koran, “for a sign unto the people that understand.” It has been said, in the same sense, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard.”--Proverbs, vi, 6. The santons, therefore, who inhabit the fertile banks of Rocnabad, are not less famous for their hives than their oratories.--D’HERBELOT, p. 717. PAGE 265. _... sheiks ... cadis_ Sheiks are the chiefs of the societies of dervishes; cadis are the magistrates of a town or city. PAGE 265. _Asses in bridles of riband inscribed from the Koran_ As the judges of Israel in ancient days rode on white asses, so, amongst the Mahometans, those that affect an extraordinary sanctity use the same animal in preference to the horse. Sir John Chardin observed, in various parts of the East, that their reins, as here represented, were of silk, with the name of God, or other inscriptions, upon them.--LUDEKE, _Expos. brevis_, p. 49. CHARDIN’S MS. cited by Harmer. PAGE 266. _One of these beneficent genii, assuming the exterior of a shepherd, etc., began to pour from his flute, etc._ The flute was considered as a sacred instrument, which Jacob and other holy shepherds had sanctified by using.--_Religious Ceremonies_, vol. vii, p. 110. PAGE 266. _... involuntarily drawn towards the declivity of the hill_ A similar instance of attraction may be seen in the Story of Prince Ahmed and the Peri Parabanou.--_Arabian Nights_, vol. iv, p. 243. PAGE 267. _Eblis_ D’Herbelot supposes this title to have been a corruption of the Greek Διαβολος, _diabolos_. It was the appellation conferred by the Arabians upon the prince of the apostate angels, whom they represent as exiled to the infernal regions, for refusing to worship Adam at the command of the Supreme, and appears more likely to originate from the Hebrew הבל _hebel_, vanity, pride.--See below, the note, p. 305, “_Creatures of clay._” PAGE 267. _... compensate for thy impieties by an exemplary life_