wrapped up in a piece of silk. (My
description is taken from the Egyptian Mahmal.) When on the road,
it serves as a holy banner to the caravan; and on the return of
the Egyptian caravan, the book of prayers is exposed in the mosque
El Hassaneyn, at Cairo, where men and women of the lower classes
go to kiss it and obtain a blessing by rubbing their foreheads
upon it. No copy of the Koran, nor any thing but the book of
prayers, is placed in the Cairo Mahmal. I believe the custom to
have arisen in the battle-banner of the Bedouins, called Merkeb
and Otfe, which I have mentioned in my remarks on the Bedouins,
and which resemble the Mahmal, inasmuch as they are high wooden
frames placed upon camels.

* * * * *

SOUTH AMERICAN MANNERS

_From the Memoirs of General Miller, Second Edition._

In the Pampas, where a scarcity of food is unknown to the poorest, that
calculating avarice which, in its fears for to-morrow, would look with
apathy on the wants of the stranger, can have but a limited sway. Kind
offices are, therefore more freely and disinterestedly conferred than
in less abundant regions. In addition to this, the dearth of society
in a thinly-sprinkled population renders the presence of a traveller
on their isolated _haciendas_ a source of gratification. If his
appearance afford no ground for mistrust, and if his manners are not
disagreeable, his being a stranger is a sufficient passport to a kind
and hearty welcome. Whether he be rich or poor is not a subject of
inquiry, and makes no difference in the reception.

The South Americans are gay, and fond of dancing, music, and singing.
There are few, whether wealthy or otherwise, who are not proficients in
one or other of these accomplishments. In the warmer latitudes, people
carry on not only their usual occupations, but their amusements, chiefly
in the open air; and as singing constitutes one of the principal sources
of the latter, the continued exercise of the voice harmonizes and
strengthens it. Perhaps no opera, in Europe, could afford, to a natural
and unsophisticated ear, so rich a treat as that which may be enjoyed in
Cuzco, Arequipa, and other cities, where the ancient Peruvian airs are
sung in the rich and melodious tones of the natives.

The South Americans possess great intellectual quickness, and a
retentive memory. The following ma