The most peculiar class of men in the country is that of the Derwîshes, or sacred personages, who wander from village to village, performing tricks, living on alms, and enjoying certain social and domestic privileges, which very often lead to scandalous scenes. Some of these men are mad, some are fanatics, but the majority are, I imagine, rogues. They are reverenced not only by the peasantry, but also sometimes by the governing class. I have seen the Kady of Nazareth ostentatiously preparing food for a miserable and filthy beggar, who sat in the justice hall, and was consulted as if he had been inspired. A Derwîsh of peculiar eminence is often dressed in good clothes, with a spotless turban, and is preceded by a banner-bearer, and followed by a band, with drum, cymbal, and tambourine. In one case at Kannîr, the banner-bearer was a negro, who worked himself into a sort of fury, foamed at the mouth, and charged at us with the sharp spear-head of the flag. As a rule, however, the saint is half-naked, and perhaps blind, and holds a tin pot or plate for alms. One of this class, a fine old mendicant from Mecca, with a shock head of uncut locks, came, spear in hand, to our Jeb’a camp and offered, for a fee, to “pray for the column (or cairn) in the day of our journeying.” Another ran before us for a mile or more (as Elijah ran before Ahab’s chariot), shouting loudly as he went. It is natural to reflect whether the social position of the Prophets among the Jews may not have resembled that of the Derwîshes. Revered by the people, but hated by the ruling class when their influence was directed against the king, or the court religion, the Prophets, though solitary, poor, and unaided, became powerful in times of religious revival, when they suddenly assumed the position of leaders, and became persons of political importance, just as a Derwîsh might do even now in times of fanatical excitement. The Derwîshes belong to regular tribes with recognised chiefs: thus there are the Raf’ai or “snake-charmers,” who draw out serpents from their holes, and who are regularly initiated by their Sheikh, who is a disciple of the “Saint of God, Raf’ai,” who came from Egypt. There are many others, including those who perform strange feats--eating scorpions, or sticking sharp swords into their cheeks or eyes. By Europeans in Palestine the Derwîshes are generally regarded as impostors.