Among the many idlers who can afford to loiter away the day, some assume an appearance of unusual sanctimoniousness, whose peculiarly long faces and abstracted airs, most effectually ward off any attempts to recall them to the realities of life. They listlessly toy with their chaplets, gazing into vacancy as polished bead after bead slips through their fingers, and seemingly are as divested of thought, as the unmeaning, but apparently, absorbing playthings they ever dangle. These beads have no such significance as the Catholic rosaries, but are always in the hand of the Oriental gentlemen and ladies, and are often of great value, being composed of large pearls and other precious gems, though the ordinary style is to make them of cocoa shells, whale teeth, ivory or amber. During this fast the faithful are at the gate of religion, and the very odor of their breath is considered to be sweeter than musk to the olfactories of Allah! Some of them observe the fast in its true spirit and letter, and all externally conform to its regulations. No doubt to those who are incapable of religious ecstasies, who cannot transport themselves out of the world, while clogged with their human tenements, who relish not the unsubstantial viands of a superstitious faith, the hours drag very heavily on from sunrise to sunset. Physical necessities sometimes force the less spiritualized to taste some of the forbidden fruits, or to avail themselves of this occasion to test the truth of the proverb, that "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." The more faithful, in the midst of their sufferings remember that as Mohammed was, fortunately, of human mould like themselves, he informed them "God would make this an ease unto you and not a difficulty--therefore * * * * * God knoweth that ye defraud yourselves therein and forgiveth you, and now therefore * * * * * and earnestly desire that which God ordaineth you, and eat and drink until ye can plainly distinguish a white thread by the day-break, then keep the fast until night," &c.