saying: “O Lord of this sacred relic, I flee to Thee and to ‘Thy right hand on earth’ from all want and also from all infidelity.” In this, the first circuit or “shaut,” we used the step called “harvaleh,” walking briskly and shrugging the shoulders up and down, and we adopted the same gait on the second and third “ashwat” (plural form of “shaut”). But, in performing the remaining four circuits, a more grave and stately tread was assumed according to the custom. This ordinary eastern walk is called “teamol” and combines dignity of demeanour with leisure of pace; it is a contemplative fashion of walking, what the French would call _recueilli_, and is admirably suited to a pilgrim’s devotional stroll round the House of God. On the other hand, the reformer who should wish to introduce the go-ahead civilisation of the West could not begin better than by levying a prohibitive tax on the “teamol.” Sale records the tradition that this sevenfold compassing of the Ka’bah was ordered by Muhammad, “that his followers might show themselves strong and active, to cut off the hopes of the infidels, who gave out that the immoderate heats of Medina had rendered them weak.” A second tradition is that the circular motion represents the orbicular motion of the heavenly bodies; a third, that it is meant to symbolise the Egyptian wheels, those hieroglyphics of the instability of human fortune; and a fourth, that it arose from a custom among the Pagan Arabs, who, if they wished to humble themselves, were wont to walk seven times round the person or persons whom they delighted to exalt. Anyhow, the compassing of the Ka’bah, be its origin what it may, is held by the Muhammadans to be an act of self-sacrifice from man to God. I was much struck by the fact that the victims of cholera and of other diseases were borne round the sacred precincts in rude wooden coffins by their friends, who cried out in tones of lamentation, “Yá-Allah! Yá-Allah!” It was an impressive funeral procession, and is said to relieve the pressure of the grave, and to insure to the corpse a safe and a speedy entrance into Paradise. The Tewaff is brought to a close by a reverential visit to the tomb of Abraham, which faces the door of the House. It is an open pavilion resting on four pillars, and crowned with a crescented cupola. There my guide and I, taking up our position on the thither side of the tomb which was thus placed between ourselves and the House of God, prostrated ourselves twice, saying our morning prayers the while; and then, sitting on our hips, we raised our hands to the sky and said with closed eyes: