‘Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter, is invoked under different appellations. Her general name is _Khatoon ul junet_, or _Mistress of Paradise_. There are, besides, several male saints, whose peculiar province is the protection of the fair sex; but _Peer Bawhoor_, is the hastener of lovers’ return. Among the lower ranks, _Shaik Saddoo_ is often invoked. This was a good and great man, whom the devil tempted in the shape of a beautiful young lady; and, as he happened to die before he had time for purification, he was (as is _usual in such cases_,) turned into a _kubbeess_, or wandering wicked spirit, of whom the women are much afraid; for he is said often to enter them in the shape of the devil, such as in the times of our forefathers were used to possess the females. They give great feasts in honor of _Shaik Saddoo_, at which a goat forms part of the sacrifice. Hence, when a woman is in her tantrums, she is ironically said to require a slice of the _Shaik’s goat_. At the entertainment given in his honor, one of the women personates the _Shaik_, being dressed in male habiliments, and furnished with sword and target. When a woman is said to be possessed, she undergoes all the agitations of the prophetic beldames of former times; she foams at the mouth, and appears in strong convulsions. In this deplorable situation, true answers are supposed to be received to all questions put to her relating to past, or to future events. Some women affect to be married to this saint, and, consequently, become very, very devils to their husbands and neighbours. _Zaen Khan_, particularly in the upper provinces, is a saint of a similar complexion and history. One of the _bhaguts_, or doctors, famous for his dexterity in exorcism, gave me the following detail of his proceedings. ‘When a woman appears heavy and unwell, her friends, suspecting the cause, call in a _bhagut_, who generally, as may be imagined, accords with them in opinion. On hearing this sentence from so learned a personage, the patient’s imagination begins to operate, and, in a short while, she feels the spirit move within her. The _bhagut_ loses no time in making up a magic sacrifice, which he sets on the fire under the woman’s nose. The devil being thus smoked out, loses no time in mounting upon the body of the patient, and begins (permit me the use of a vulgar, though not inapplicable term) to ride away “at a devil of a rate.” The patient now suffers violent agitation, tossing her arms, head, and legs about, in a dreadful manner, in consequence of the kicks and buffetings from the fiend; who all this while is totally invisible to every one except the _bhagut_. This is the moment for the display of the doctor’s art and dexterity! He springs forward, and seizes the _possessed_ by the hair; which he holds fast, as it gives him an entire command over the spirit, whom he now interrogates in the following peremptory and bold manner:—“Who art thou? whence comest thou? and why disturbest thou this woman?”