s the public religious services are concluded, all
return to their ordinary pursuits; the day, however, is strictly
observed by all classes in the manner prescribed by law, it being a
received maxim that he who, without legitimate cause, absents himself
from public devotion on three successive Fridays, abjures his religion.
It is worthy of observation, that the prayers of the Turks consist
chiefly of adoration, of confessions of the Divine attributes and the
nothingness of man, and of homage and gratitude to the Supreme Being.
A Turk must not pray for the frail and perishable blessings of this
life; the health of the sultan, the prosperity of his country, and
divisions and wars among the Christians alone excepted. The legitimate
object of prayer they hold to be spiritual gifts, and happiness in a
future state of being.

No one of their religious institutions is more strictly observed by the
Turks than the fast of Ramadan. He who violates it is reckoned either
{275} an infidel or an apostate; and if two witnesses establish his
offence, he is deemed to have incurred the severest penalty of the law.
Abstinence from food, and even from the use of perfumes, from sunrise
to sunset, is enjoined. The rich pass the hours in meditation and
prayer, the grandees sleep away their time, but the labouring man,
pursuing his daily toil, most heavily feels its rigour. "When the
month of Ramadan happens in the extremities of the seasons, the
prescribed abstinence is almost intolerable, and is more severe than
the practice of any moral duty, even to the most vicious and depraved
of mankind." During the day all traffic is suspended; but in the
evening, and till late at night, it is actively carried on in the
streets, shops, and bazars, most splendidly illuminated. From sunset
to sunrise, revelry and excess are indulged in. Every night there is a
feast among the great officers of the court: the reserve of the Turkish
character is laid aside, and friends and relations cement their union
by mutual intercourse. Sumptuous banquets and convivial hilarity are
universal; and, were not women everywhere excluded from the tables of
the men, the pleasure of the festivals would amply compensate the
rigorous self-denial of their fasts.

The pilgrimage to Mecca is with the Turks more a matter of form than of
reality. Its {276} importance as a part of the Moslem ritual is
admitted, and apparently felt, but the number of pilgrims annually
decreas