or an hour. These enthusiasts marry, if they
please; many of them are artisans, tradesmen, and farm laborers, and
only go at certain times to the monasteries to take part in the zikrs.
There are many different orders, and several other kinds of zikr besides
the two most commonly seen by travellers.

[Illustration: A MECCA DOOR]

Travellers see also the Mohammedan prayers. These prayers, with
alms-giving, fasting during the month Ramadan, and the pilgrimage to
Mecca, are the important religious duties of all Muslims. The excellent
new hotel, the Continental, where we had our quarters, a hotel whose
quiet and comfort are a blessing to Cairo, overlooked a house which was
undergoing alteration; every afternoon at a certain hour a plasterer
came from his work within, and, standing in a corner under our windows,
divested himself of his soiled outer gown; then, going to a wall-faucet,
he turned on the water, and rapidly but carefully washed his face, his
hands and arms, his feet, and his legs as far as his knees, according to
Mohammed's rule; this done, he took down from a tree a clean board which
he kept there for the purpose, and, placing it upon the ground, he
kneeled down upon it, with his face towards Mecca, and went through his
worship, many times touching the ground with his forehead in token of
self-humiliation. His devotions occupied five or six minutes. As soon as
they were over, the board was quickly replaced in the tree, the soiled
gown put on again, and the man hurried back to his work with an
alertness which showed that he was no idler. On the Nile, at the
appointed hour, our pilot gave the wheel to a subordinate, spread out
his prayer-carpet on the deck, and said his prayers with as much
indifference to the eyes watching him as though they did not exist. In
the bazaars the merchants pray in their shops; the public cook prays in
the street beside his little furnace; on the shores of the river at
sunset the kneeling figures outlined against the sky are one of the
pictures which all travellers remember. The official pilgrimage to Mecca
takes place each year, the departure and return of the pilgrim train
being celebrated with great pomp; the most ardent desire of every
Mohammedan is to make this journey before he dies. When a returning
Cairo pilgrim reaches home, it is a common custom to decorate his
doorway with figures, painted in brilliant hues, representing his
supposed adventures. The designs, which are very p