The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1880-09-18
Trklah SuDofStitlo0s.

Ttrklsh Sspefstitleas.
Thew abhor bells; which they say
draw together evil spirits---the very op-
poeite Of the old European notion
which va that the sound Of bells drove
evil spirits away. For bells the Mos
lens have men called Maezzins, who
are stationed in the little balconies
round the tops Of the tall minarets, and
who call out i've times . day to the PEG.
pie 70 come to prayer. Their cry IL:
"There il NO God but God, and No.
manned ID the apostle of God" Noe.
lens must pray five times 2 day,
wherever they are. At home. in the
shops, In the street or On . journey,
when the proper hour comes they fall
down on their knees and 20 through
their prayers and prostrations. One
day several Of them called On the writer
about 9 ?. L., and after some con.
vefsation one OF them rose and said 10
bis companions: II must pray" They
asked him Why, for it was not the hour
Of prayer. His answer was: "When I
went to the mosque at noon to pray. I
had an ink spot on my finger nail, and
did not perceive it till / left; 80 NV
prayer was of 70 account. I have lust
scraped it of, so must repeat my noon
tide prayer" He then spread bis cloak
upon the floor, and, kneeling on it with
his face toward Mecca, began his
prayers, while his friends amused them
selves by talking about his strictness.
One of them said: HE thinks he Is
holy, but il We saw the inside of him
You would find him as black Is pitch. !"
He kept his head turned to hear what
was said, and, on concluding, disputed
. remark made BY sJne one while he
Belief IN the ev,lsyeb ;ysry prevalent
In Western Asia, q Il b In Northern
Africa, and even In Italy and Spain.
One day the friends of . lady who had .
baby called to see her. The moment
they saw the child they all cried out in
Arabic: "The name Of Allah be upon
him!" That was to avert the evil eve.
DR.. Meshaka, Of Damascus, says of
those who entertain this belief that they
"think certain p eople have the power
Of killing Others by glance Of the eye.
Others pick grapes by merely looking at
them. This power may rest in one eye,
and a man who thought he had it vailed
one eye, out of compassion for others.
The Moslem sheiks and others profess
to cure the evil eye and prevent its
effects by writing mystic talismanic
words on papers, which are to be worn.
Others write the words on an egg, and
then strike the forehead of the evil eyed
with the egg" When a new house is
built, the workmen hang up an egg.
shell, or piece of alum, or an old root
or a donkey's skull. In the front door, to
keep of the evil eye. The Moslem
would leave their children ragged and
dirty to keep people from admiring
them, and thus shifting them with the
evi! eye. We are sorry to add that they
think blue eyes especially dangerous.
They believe the name of God, or Allah,
charm against evil, and repeat it as
such; but they have some terrible i'm
pIoC0tlONS 0xalueG tuUS0 WHO 6lC
thought to smite with the evil eye.
Near Tripoli there is what 8 called
the convent Of the sacred fish. It 10 q
large, high building, with y snow white
dome, and q great sycamore tree stands
by the side Of q crystal pool of water.
Here may be seen q crowd of Moslem
boys, who have come from Tripoli to
feed the sacred fish and to play ON the
green lawn. The old sheik who keeps
the place has much faith in the fish.
He says they are all Moslems, and are
inhabited BY the souls of Mos.em saints.
One black dsh, the sheik of the saints,
does not often show himself, but other
fish may be counted by hundreds o|
thousands, and resemble daceo or chub.
The custodian says that during Tie
Crimean war many of. the older, 6sh
went OF under the sea to Sebastopol nd
fought the RussiaSs, and thlk lpqAct
them came back wounded: = The people
think that any one who eats the isl
will die Immediately; but Mr.. JessoI
says that the American consul in 1854
had some caught and cooked. They
proved coarse and unpalatable, but no
injurioas.-LondloS Queen.