[5] Spinacea oleracea, or Basella alba.

[6] Dhall [dal] is a sort of pea, sometimes cooked in a savoury way
    with garlic, salt, ghee, pepper and herbs.  It is about the consistence
    of thick pea-soup—­but 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 insurmountable.  Indulgences are made for the sick, or individual poverty.  All who have the means at command, whatever may be their distance from the place, are expected to perform the Hadje themselves if possible; or, if prevented by any circumstances they cannot control, they are required to pay the expenses of other persons willing to be their proxies.