They hold the heaven to be air, and the moon to be the spirit of water. They agree upon transmigration in the following manner: when a man dies and is buried, the component parts of his body manifest themselves in the shape of minerals or vegetables, until the latter become the food of animals, or serve as aliment to mankind. These sectaries subjoin: in the food may reside intelligence and action; for the dispersed ingredients of a body are in the food; intelligence and action collect all in one place, where * they experience no dispersion, although the conformation of the body may be disjoined; whether in the producing of a mineral, a vegetable, an animal, or a man. *[13] They do not agree upon the existence of a rational unsubstantial soul. They know of no heaven without the elements, and believe the necessary original principle to be a point of earth. Instead of _Bísmilla hirrehma nirrehím_, “in the name of the bountiful and merciful God,” they write _Isteâín ba ne fseg illazi la illah hú_, “I assist myself of thy essence which alone is God;” and instead of _láysa kamsillah shaya_, “nothing is like it;” they say _Ana merkeb almabin_, “I am the vehicle of him who explains the truth.” [12] _Zemzem_ is the name of a famous well at Mecca. According to the Muhammedans, it was formed from the source which God made appear in favor of Ismâil and Hagar, his mother, whom Abraham drove from his house, and obliged to retire to Arabia. When afterwards the patriarch came to visit his banished son Ismâil, and built the square temple, called Kâbah, he bestowed upon him the possession of it and the surrounding country, since called Mecca. This place became an object of contest between Ismâil’s posterity and the Arabian tribe of Jorhamides. The latter, after having possessed themselves of it, were attacked by the former, but before yielding it, they threw the sacred black stone, with the two gazelles of massive gold which an Arabian king had presented to the temple, into the well, and then completely filled it up. So it remained until the time of an ancestor of Muhammed, called Abdal mothleb; he was admonished by an heavenly voice to clear the well, the situation of which was at the same time indicated to him. This was near the idols Assat and Neilah, which were first to be removed, in spite of their adorers, the Koráishites. The latter, having ceded the well, claimed to share the treasure which Abdal mothleb had found in it. The new contest was to be decided by Ebn Sáid, a famous prophet, who lived on the confines of Syria. Upon the way to him, through a desert, when both parties were dying of thirst, a fountain which sprung up beneath the foot of Abdal mothleb’s camel brought about a reconciliation between them; the well was cleared; the treasure found was consecrated to the temple, which in after times gained so