[ds] _I could not deem my son was slow_.--[MS. erased.] [dt] _The Tartar sped beneath the gate_ _And flung to earth his fainting weight_.--[MS.] [103] The calpac is the solid cap or centre part of the head-dress; the shawl is wound round it, and forms the turban. [104] The turban, pillar, and inscriptive verse, decorate the tombs of the Osmanlies, whether in the cemetery or the wilderness. In the mountains you frequently pass similar mementos; and on inquiry you are informed that they record some victim of rebellion, plunder, or revenge. [The following is a "Koran verse:" "Every one that is upon it (the earth) perisheth; but the person of thy Lord abideth, the possessor of glory and honour" (Sur. lv. 26, 27). (See "Kufic Tombstones in the British Museum," by Professor Wright, _Proceedings of the Biblical Archæological Society_, 1887, ix. 337, _sq_.)] [105] {120} "Alla Hu!" the concluding words of the Muezzin's call to prayer from the highest gallery on the exterior of the Minaret. On a still evening, when the Muezzin has a fine voice, which is frequently the case, the effect is solemn and beautiful beyond all the bells in Christendom. [Valid, the son of Abdalmalek, was the first who erected a minaret or turret; and this he placed on the grand mosque at Damascus, for the muezzin or crier to announce from it the hour of prayer. (See D'Herbelot, _Bibliothèque Orientale_, 1783, vi. 473, art. "Valid." See, too, _Childe Harold_, Canto II. stanza lix. line 9, _Poetical Works_, 1899, ii. 136, note 1.)] [106] The following is part of a battle-song of the Turks:--"I see--I see a dark-eyed girl of Paradise, and she waves a handkerchief, a kerchief of green; and cries aloud, 'Come, kiss me, for I love thee,'" etc. [107] {121} Monkir and Nekir are the inquisitors of the dead, before whom the corpse undergoes a slight noviciate and preparatory training for damnation. If the answers are none of the clearest, he is hauled up with a scythe and thumped down with a red-hot mace till properly seasoned, with a variety of subsidiary probations. The office of these angels is no sinecure; there are but two, and the number of orthodox deceased being in a small proportion to the remainder, their hands are always full.--See _Relig. Ceremon_., v. 290; vii. 59,68, 118, and Sale's _Preliminary Discourse to the Koran_, p. 101.