St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-04-04

ably larger number, but presume the
number l have stated is nearer the
truth. l was told that many of these
aerVlshes were men in the ordinary
walks OF life, and respectable citizens,
VINO were members of the organization.
and Joined them on festival occasions
like this.
THE DOSEH.
In Constantinople | had seen, after a
ceremony such as l have described,
mothers bring in their infants and place
them on their faces on the floor, and
sick men and women assume the same
position for the holy sheikh of the der
wishes to walk over their bodies, to
heal them of their infrmities and ward
off ills in the future. But this was
nothing to what saw on the day fol-
lowing the feast of lanterns, when a
high ecclesiastical functionary rode over
the PROSTATE bodies of devotees on
horseback.
A strange sight-that "Feast of the
Treading," for the sun to look down
upon in this 10Th century. 1t did look
down, however, to my certain recollec-
tiOn,-for of all the days of 1873 that
18th of March was the hottest that
found me. We went early in the fore
noon, to make sure of places in the
Governors tent, which Consul Farman
had provided for us: but the Birket
was already crowded, and the two or
three hours we had to wait gave US
abundant opportunity to examine the
heterogeneous throng. 1t is perhaps
not strange that what remember most
vividly is the carriages filled with fair
Moslem ladies, that were drawn up
quite closely around us. They were
evidently of the higher and more
wealthy classes as they were dressed in
the richest of oriental stuffs mixed with
the most expensive fabrics and orna-
ments from Paris and London. Their
ting off to its best advantage the rare
beauty that some of them possessed !;
and they seemed not mt all displeased
at the attention which was bestowed
upon them by the infidel foreigners.
The use that some of them made of
opera glasses, fans and handkerchiefs,
would quite have excited the suspicious
of their jealous lords, had they been
present.
Our patience was well-nigh exhausted
before there were any signs of the ex-
pected ceremony. The performers were
to be of the Sdddeeyek sect of dervishes,
and their sheikh-having spent the
night before in fasting, invocations,
secret prayers and reading passages
from the Koran, must now wait for his
midday prayer tit being Friday,) in
| the sacred mosque of Sultan Hassan.
Not long after, tumult was seen
arising some distance away,-and n
crowd of men bareheaded, barefoot.
dressed in long blue tunics, made their
appearance. They were beastly drunk
with hdshish, and us they reeled into
the arena, they were frantically yelling
Allah Allah Allah
When they came in front of the place
where we were sitting, they threw
themselves down side by side on their
faces on the ground-lying close as
sardines together-the feet in the
same direction, their heads resting on
their arms folded underneath. The ex-
citement had been intense us these 200
frenzied men made their appearance
for they seemed more like wild beasts
than men, and | think more than one
shared in the feelings expressed 10y one
of the ladies of our party-that she ex-
pected every moment to be killed on
the spot. Everybody was in commotion,
rushing hither and thither, to get at
the best point OF observation, until a
solid bank of human beings, men and
women, disregarding all questions of
race, rank or condition, formed on both
sides of this canal of living men,-al-
most breathlessly waiting for the COM
ing of the merciless rider,-while in the
meantime, men were running back and
forth over the backs of their PROSTATE
comrades to see that the arrangements
were complete.
After a little the holy Sheikh ap-
peared. He was heralded by throng
of fwild fanatics, who were waving richly
embroidered banners, and vociferating
the name of Allah He was mounted
on fine gray horse of ordinary size and
weight, and elaborately caparisoned.
His long robe of light drab flowed far
down on his horses sides, and his head
was bound with an enormous green tur-
ban-indicating that he was a lineal
descendant of the Prophet, whose birth
day he was now to celebrate and SYM
bolize. His face was deathly PALE
his eyes were closed as in a trance
the reins rested mechanically in his
hands, and two men were required to
hold him in his seat while two more led
the horse by the bride. When the
animal reached the bodies he hesitated
for a moment, as if the human soul had
been transferred to him from his rider,
but with little urging he proceeded,
"caracolling along that living path"
while the men who guided him, and
those who supported the entranced
sheikh, walked on pavement of heads