ricks or stones are then laid along the edge of the niche, so that
when the earth is thrown in none of it may fall on the corpse, which
is enveloped in a winding-sheet only, coffins being never used. The
origin of the word "coffin" is possibly from the Arabic word kafn,
which denotes the winding-sheet usually used by Muhammadans. [1]

Great marvels are related about the graves of these holy men, among
the commonest being the belief that they go on increasing in length of
their own accord, the increase of length being a sign of the acceptance
of the prayers of the deceased by the Almighty. Near the mission house
in Peshawur was one such grave, which went on lengthening at the rate
of one foot a year. When it had reached the length of twenty-seven
feet it was seriously encroaching on the public highway, and it was
only after the promulgation of an official order from the district
authorities that the further growth of the holy man should cease that
the grave ceased to expand. This shrine is still famous in the country
round as "the Nine-Yard Shrine," which numbers of devotees visit
every year, in the expectation of obtaining some material benefit.

The use of charms or amulets is practically universal. The children
of the rich may be seen with strings of charms fastened up in little
ornamented silver caskets hung round their neck, while even the
poorest labourer will not be without a charm sewn up in a bit of
leather, which he fastens round his arm or his neck. These charms are
most usually verses out of the Quran, transcribed by some Mullah of
repute and blessed by him; others are cabalistic sentences or words,
while some are mere bits of paper or rag which have been blessed by
a holy man. On more than one occasion I have found my prescriptions
made up into charms, the patient believing that this would be
more efficacious than drinking the hospital medicines; in fact,
one patient assured me that he had never suffered from rheumatism,
to which he had previously been subject, after he had tied round his
arm a prescription in which I had ordered him some salicylate of soda,
although he had never touched the drug. In one instance I found that
a man who had been given some grey powders, with directions how to
use them, had instead fastened them up, paper and all, into a little
packet, which he had sewn up in leather and fastened round his neck,
with, he told me, very beneficial result. From this it can be readily
understood