Before the time of Moḥammad, there were no public baths in Arabia; and he was so prejudiced against them, for the reasons already alluded to, that he at first forbade both men and women from entering them: afterwards, however, he permitted men to do so, if for the sake of cleanliness, on the condition of their having a cloth round the waist; and women also on account of sickness, child-birth, &c., provided they had not convenient places for bathing in their houses. But, notwithstanding this license, it is held to be a characteristic of a virtuous woman, not to go to a bath even with her husband's permission: for the Prophet said, "Whatever woman enters a bath, the devil is with her." As the bath is a resort of the Jinn, prayer should not be performed in it, nor the Ḳur-án recited. The Prophet said, "All the earth is given to me as a place of prayer, and as pure, except the burial-ground and the bath."[158] Hence also, when a person is about to enter a bath, he should offer up an ejaculatory prayer for protection against evil spirits; and should place his left foot first over the threshold.--Infidels have often been obliged to distinguish themselves in the bath, by hanging a signet to the neck, or wearing anklets, &c., lest they should receive those marks of respect which should be paid only to believers.[159] NOTE 17.--_On Meals, and the Manner of Eating._ The King (with the sage as his guest) is here described as eating in the presence of his court, agreeably with a common custom of Eastern princes and other great men in the present day; the simple manner in which the meal is served and eaten occasioning but a slight interruption. The Muslim takes a light breakfast after the morning-prayers, and dinner after the noon-prayers; or a single meal instead of these two, before noon. His principal meal is supper, which is taken after the prayers of sunset. A man of rank or wealth, when he has no guest, generally eats alone; his children eat after him, or with his wife or wives. In all his repasts he is moderate with regard to the quantity which he eats, however numerous the dishes.