miles to one or
other of these zyarats. In some cases it may reasonably be supposed
that the change from a stuffy, unventilated dark room to the open air,
and the stimulus of change of climate and scenery, has its share in
the cure which often undoubtedly results.

Another feature of these shrines is that their sanctity is so
universally acknowledged that articles of personal property may
be safely left by the owners for long periods of time in perfect
confidence of finding them untouched on their return. This is the more
remarkable, remembering that these tribes are thieves by profession,
and scarcely look upon brigandage as a reprehensible act. The
inhabitants of a mountain village may be migrating to the plains for
the winter months, and they will leave their beds, pots and pans,
and other household furniture, under the trees of some neighbouring
shrine, and they will almost invariably find them on their return,
some months later, exactly as they left them. One distinct advantage
of these shrines is that it is a sin to cut wood from any of the trees
surrounding them. Thus it comes about that the shrines are the only
green spots among the hills which the improvident vandalism of the
tribes has denuded of all their trees and shrubs.

Graves have a special sanctity in the eyes of the Afghans, more
even than in the case of other Muhammadans, and you will generally
see an Afghan, when passing by a graveyard, dismount from his horse
and, turning towards some more prominent tomb, which denotes the
burial-place of some holy man, hold up his hands in the attitude
of Muhammadan prayer, and invoke the blessing of the holy man
on his journey, and then stroke his beard, as is usually done by
the Muhammadans at the conclusion of their prayers. There are few
graveyards which do not boast some such holy man or faqir in their
midst; in fact, as often as not, the chance burial of some such
holy man in an out-of-the-way part determines the site of a cemetery,
because all those in the country round desire to have their graves near
his, in the belief that at the Resurrection Day his sanctity will atone
for any of their shortcomings, and insure for them an unquestionable
entry into bliss. The graves always lie north and south, and after
digging down to a depth determined by the character of the soil,
a niche is hollowed out at one side, usually the western, and the
corpse is laid in the niche, with its face turned towards Mecca. Some
b