d near came and bowed, and
sometimes, if they were worthy, touched his feet, and he would give them
a little look from his quiet intense eyes, and the least inclination of
his head, a movement and look a king might have envied, it was at the
same time so reserved and yet graciously beneficent. His hair and beard
were long and slightly curling and tawny at the ends, and his face was
dusted with grey ash which emphasised his rather potent eyes. His
features in profile were pure Greek, and on his low forehead there was a
touch of gold. His particular followers or disciples had the silly
expression of a mesmerist's subjects; they sat in the dust stark naked
and unashamed, and looked happy and exceedingly foolish.

The way this fakir made money I was told, is simplicity itself; he
merely gives a pass with his hand above his head, and lo there is a
sovereign in his palm, or he makes a pass at his toe and there is
another!

My Mohammedan guide, who told me about this fakir, was rather a fine
specimen and had read much; and though he did not belong to the same
church as the fakir, he held him in great respect, and he told me very
seriously--that he could raise the dead--he knew a man who knew another
man who had actually seen it done!

The fakir sat on a little dais in front of a hut with an awning over
him. He passed word to a satellite in a cloak that he would be pleased
were I to land, and I told my guide to tell him I would be pleased to
alight from my ramshackle tub and make his portrait, and he gently
inclined his head, so I descended from my barge roof, and stood opposite
him on the sand and drew, and after half-an-hour or so he saw that I was
tired standing and sent for a seat, but I of course could not change my
point of view, and no doubt his followers wondered why I bothered
standing in the sun when I might have easily sat in the shade and done
nothing. Next day I went on the river and stopped in passing his place
and showed him the coloured portrait, of which he gently expressed his
approval and signified that he would be pleased to accept a copy. So I
made one, and it is now glazed and framed and worshipped by his
disciples. He gave me his blessing in exchange--he did not make any
passes for sovereigns--but he gave me a seed or two to eat for a
particular purpose, and there is no result so far--and though he did not
convert me I left him with a certain respect for his great dignity of
manner, and for his evident