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cup of coffee; the coffee is poured out in little cups about the size of half an egg, dark and muddy; the liquid is not allowed to settle before it is drunk off, and as the Moslems take no sugar, the mixture is not very palatable to an European.

Returning home through the great cemetery to the eastward of the town, I observed a funeral issuing from the gate of the city opening on the cemetery, aptly called "The Gate of Tombs." It appeared to be that of a person of some consequence, as several horses were led in state at the head of the procession. Hired mourners beat their breasts; a string of old men, mostly blind, chaunted the customary chaunt of " God is great," &c., La-i-la il-la-Allah Moham-madoor ra-soo-loo. Then followed a string of Dervishes and Santons bearing the koran, and afterwards the male relations and friends surrounding the corpse; over the bier was thrown a large shawl, and a turban was placed at the head of the coffin; the numerous male friends of the deceased congregating together, vied with each other in paying a last tribute of respect, by bearing the body a short distance on its journey towards the tomb. Behind the bier came the female relatives of the deceased, whose sorrow was no doubt genuine. "The afflicted mother," says the Arabic proverb, "who has lost

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her children is not like the woman who weeps for hire."

The hired mourners frequently make a great outcry, and shout out the praises of the deceased. The noisy expressions that they use on going along, I am told, are generally to this effect. Oh, what a fine man he was! Oh, what a beautiful turban he had! Oh, what a fine horse he rode! Oh, what a kind master he was!" &c., &c. And, if a woman, “Oh, what a lovely person she was! Oh, what a soft eye she had! Oh, what a fine veil she wore! Oh, what will her husband do?" On arriving at the grave the coffin is taken to pieces, and sufficient space is always left by arching the grave, or disposing fragments of wood so as to support the soil, to enable the deceased to sit upright; for, say the Moslems, as soon as a man is quietly located in his grave, two terrible angels pay him a visit, whom they call Munqueer and Guannequeer, and putting the soul back into the body, in the same way as a man putteth on his shirt, they raise him on his knees, and immediately cross-examine him on his past life, when if his answers are unsatisfactory to the dread messengers, the one immediately knocks him six fathoms deep into the earth with an iron hammer, and the other tears his flesh with red hot pincers

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until the day of judgment; if, however, the poor resuscitated man replies to their satisfaction, they vanish away in smoke, and two divine beings clothed in white appear to comfort and protect him until the day of judgment.

The evenings are at present lovely, and the sunsets most beautiful. From the burying-ground, and along the bases of the mountains rising abruptly to the north of Salahieh, the most lovely view is afforded of the domes and minarets rising above the vast plain of rich foliage.

As the last rays of the setting sun are reflected from the mosques, minarets, and buildings, and the soft mellow tints of evening are spreading over the landscape, we generally wander along these mountains, and survey the lovely prospect, the waving mass of foliage, and the grand and striking appearance of the town. The tinkling bells of some sluggish caravan may be heard approaching the town, and a few solitary women, robed in white, may be seen wandering among the tombs in the burying-ground.

The village or suburb of Salahieh, contains a population of some thousands; it consists chiefly of one long, narrow, dark street, running parallel with the mountains and cutting the great road into the town at right angles. It is seated just on