without meat. [_Author_.]

[7] But it is directed that infirm people, unable to fast, should feed a
poor person when the fast is over. Women in child and those suckling
children are advised to fast at some other more convenient season.

[8] 'Idu'l-fitr, 'the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast'.

[9] _Dahi_.

[10] The Ajwah date is never sold in Arabia, because the Prophet advised
that whosoever break the fast every day with, six or seven of those
fruits need fear neither poison nor magic.--Burton, _Pilgrimage_,
i. 401 f.

[11] Known as _siwayan_, which Musalman servants present on this day
to their European masters in India.

[12] _Nazr, nazar_.

[13] A lumbering, keelless barge, formerly much used by Europeans
travelling on the Ganges and its tributaries: _bajra_ meaning
'heavy'.

[14] _Khil'at._

[15] _Domni_, a woman of the Dom or singer class.

[16] _Sitara_, 'three-stringed', but often possessing four or more
strings of steel and brass wire, played with a steel wire frame.

[17] _Saranyi_.

[18] _Dhol_: 'dhome' is a mistake.

[19] _Hadis_, the sayings of the Prophet, not of an uninspired divine or
teacher.

[20] _Dastarkhwan_, a modification of the Arab leathern table-spread
(_sufra_).

[21] _Tharid_, bread moistened with broth and mixed with scraps of meat.

[22] Maryam.

[23] 'Isa'l-Masih.

[24] Zakariya (_Koran_, iii. 32, vi. 85, xix. 1-12, xxi. 89).

[25] _Chakki_.

LETTER IX

The Hadje (Pilgrimage to Mecca).--Commanded to be performed by
Mahumud.--Eagerness of both sexes to visit the Prophet's
tomb.--Qualifications requisite for the undertaking.--Different
routes from India to Mecca.--Duties of the pilgrims at the Holy
House.--Mecca and its environs.--Place of Abraham.--The
Bedouins.--Anecdote of a devotee and two pilgrims.--A Bedouin Arab,
and the travellers to Mecca.--The Kaabah (Holy House).--Superstitious
regard to a chain suspended there.--Account of the gold
water-spout.--Tax levied on pilgrims visiting the tomb of Mahumud by
the Sheruff of Mecca.--Sacred visit to the tombs of Ali, Hasan, and
Hosein.--The importance attached to this duty.--Travellers annoyed by
the Arabs.--An instance recorded.--The Nudghiff Usheruff.--Anecdotes
of Syaad Harshim.

'The Pilgrimage to Mecca' is commanded by Mahumud to his followers at
least once during their lifetime, provided the obstacles are not
insurmounta