Besides This Ordinary And Stated Time Of Sadness, Many Foolish Women Are In Use, Oft Times In The Year, So Long As They Survive, To Water The Graves Of Their Husbands Or Children With The Tears Of Affectionate Regret.

On the night succeeding the day of general mourning, they light up innumerable lamps, and other lights, which they set on the sides and tops of their houses, and all other most conspicuous places, taking no food till these are burnt out.

When the ramadan is entirely ended, the most devout Mahometans assemble at some noted mosque, where some portion of the Alcoran is publicly read; this being their holy book, like our Bible, which they never touch without some mark of reverence. They keep a festival in November, which they call Buccaree, signifying the ram-feast; on which occasion they kill and roast a ram, in memory, as they say, of the ram which redeemed Ishmael, when about to be sacrificed by his father Abraham. They have many other feasts or holidays consecrated to Mahomet, and their pieres, or pretended saints.

They have the books of Moses, whom they name Moosa curym Alla, the righteous of God. Abraham they call Ibrahim calim Alla, the faithful of God. Thus Ishmael is called the true sacrifice of God; David is named Dahoode, the prophet of God; Solomon is Seliman, the wisdom of God, and so forth; all neatly expressed, as the former instances, in short Arabic epithets. In honour of these our scripture worthies, they frequently sing songs or ditties of praise; and, besides, all of them, except those of the ruder sort, when at any time they happen to mention our Saviour, always call him Hazaret Eesa, the Lord Jesus; and ever speak of him with respect and reverence, saying, that he was a good and just man, who lived without sin, and did greater miracles than were ever performed before or since. They even call him Rhahew Alla, which signifies the breath of God, but cannot conceive how he could be the Son of God, and therefore deny that. Yet the Mahometans look upon us as unclean, and will neither eat with us, nor of any thing that is cooked in our vessels.

There are many men among the Mahometans called Dervises, who relinquish the world, and spend their days in solitude, expecting a recompence in a better life. The strict and severe penances these men voluntarily endure, far exceed all those so much boasted of by the Romanist monks. Some of these live alone on the tops of hills, remote from all society, spending their lives in contemplation, and will rather die of famine than move from their cells, being relieved from devotion by those who dwell nearest them. Some again impose long fasts upon themselves, till nature be almost exhausted. Many of those whom they call religious men, wear no garments beyond a mere clout to cover their shame, and beg for all their provisions, like the mendicant friars of Europe.

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