the howdah reserved for His use, and which was
oftentimes surrounded by His companions, most of whom were on foot, He, by
virtue of the written order of Namiq Pa_sh_a, was accorded, as He traveled
northward, in the path of spring, an enthusiastic reception by the valis,
the mutisarrifs, the qa'im-maqams, the mudirs, the _sh_ay_kh_s, the muftis
and qadis, the government officials and notables belonging to the
districts through which He passed. In Karkuk, in Irbil, in Mosul, where He
tarried three days, in Nisibin, in Mardin, in Diyar-Bakr, where a halt of
a couple of days was made, in _Kh_arput, in Sivas, as well as in other
villages and hamlets, He would be met by a delegation immediately before
His arrival, and would be accompanied, for some distance, by a similar
delegation upon His departure. The festivities which, at some stations,
were held in His honor, the food the villagers prepared and brought for
His acceptance, the eagerness which time and again they exhibited in
providing the means for His comfort, recalled the reverence which the
people of Ba_gh_dad had shown Him on so many occasions.

"As we passed that morning through the town of Mardin," that same
fellow-traveler relates, "we were preceded by a mounted escort of
government soldiers, carrying their banners, and beating their drums in
welcome. The mutisarrif, together with officials and notables, accompanied
us, while men, women and children, crowding the housetops and filling the
streets, awaited our arrival. With dignity and pomp we traversed that
town, and resumed our journey, the mutisarrif and those with him escorting
us for a considerable distance." "According to the unanimous testimony of
those we met in the course of that journey," Nabil has recorded in his
narrative, "never before had they witnessed along this route, over which
governors and mu_sh_irs continually passed back and forth between
Constantinople and Ba_gh_dad, any one travel in such state, dispense such
hospitality to all, and accord to each so great a share of his bounty."
Sighting from His howdah the Black Sea, as He approached the port of
Samsun, Baha'u'llah, at the request of Mirza Aqa Jan, revealed a Tablet,
designated Lawh-i-Hawdaj (Tablet of the Howdah), which by such allusions
as the "Divine Touchstone," "the grievous and tormenting Mischief,"
reaffirmed and supplemented the dire predictions recorded in the recently
revealed Tablet of the Holy Mariner.

In Samsun the Chief Insp