buy a string of mules, and to
be the man you see.'

I followed my friend's advice. I forthwith laid out my money in buying a
leather sack, with a brass cock, which I slung round my body, and also a
bright drinking cup. After having filled my sack with water, and let it
soak for some time, in order to do away the bad smell of the leather, I
sallied forth, and proceeded to the tomb, where I immediately began
my operations. The cry I adopted was 'Water, water! in the name of the
Imam, water.' This I chanted with all the force and swell of my lungs,
and having practised under the tuition of the muleteer for two days
before, I was assured that I acquitted myself as well as the oldest
practitioners. As soon as I appeared, I immediately drew the attention
of the other sakas, who seemed to question the right I had to exercise
their profession. When I showed myself at the reservoir, to draw water,
they would have quarrelled with me, and one attempted to push me in; but
they found I was resolute, and that my resolution was backed by a set
of strong and active limbs, and therefore confined themselves to abusive
language, of which being the entire master, I soon got the lead, and
completely silenced them. Nature, in fact, seemed to have intended me
for a saka. The water which I had a moment before drawn from a filthy
reservoir, I extolled as having flowed from a spring created by Ali in
person equal to the sacred well of Zem Zem, and a branch of the river
which flows through Paradise. It is inconceivable how it was relished,
and how considerable was the money I received for giving it gratis. I
was always on the watch to discover when a new set of pilgrims should
arrive, and before they had even alighted from their mules, all dusty
from the road, and all happy at having escaped the Turcomans, I plied
them in the name of the Prophet with a refreshing draught, and made them
recollect that, this being the first devotional act which they performed
on reaching Meshed, so out of gratitude for their safe arrival, they
ought to reward me liberally; and my admonitions were scarcely ever
disregarded.

The commemoration of the death of Hossein, which is so religiously kept
throughout Persia, was now close at hand, and I determined to put myself
into training to appear as the water-carrier, who on the last day of
the festival, which is held the most sacred, performs a conspicuous
character in the tragedy. This was to be acted in public before