Morning journal and courier., 1884-02-13

! did not understand their nature, and the readers will easily imagine how glad was, long before their conclusion, to make my es- cape.
 The holy city of Kairwan is the Mecca of the State of Tunis, and indeed of northern Africa. It lies about eighty miles south of Tupis, and some twenty miles inland from the sea. On entering the town saw flock of camels coming over the desert, led by | their keepers. On the other side appeared | woman riding on an ass. and robed in man. tie of deep dark blue which was folded over | her head and round an infant in her arms. A man walked by her side with staff to which | 8 gourd was attached The sun was descend | ing behind them, and it's beams lit up their | figures as they turned away into the wilder l ness. little further on, near solitary | palm tree, a man was riding camel, with i worn woman slowly trailing on foot behind l him. At sign the camel stopped, and the man, dismounting, lay under the tree, and sent the weary woman far into the distance for water. It is here that the barber of the Prophet Mohammed is buried, who possessed the most precious clippings from his beard three hairs of which now remain. The town is not interesting, consisting of houses built of small bricks, partly covered in patches with dilapidated plaster. The roofs are fiat, and one can walk from one to another almost over the town. The town is surrounded by
 8 thin wall surmounted with parapet with
 semi circular crenelations. The gates are of
 old wood studded with iron knobs. The streets filthy unpaved lanes, and the
 house doors lead downward as into cellar.
 There is no hotel or inn of any description.
 The whole town is studded with mosques,
 small decayed and poor in appearance, but
 there are only two of consequence, the Great
 Mosque and the Tomb of the Barber.
 In the Great Mosque there are multitude
 of pillars, mostly antique remains, of various
 n ant ha
 prejudices of the Turks, I stopped down to
 take of my shoes before treading on the
 holy carpet-or rather mating This ap
 peared to please them, and priest made
 gesture to me, and forthwith caused the mat ting to be rolled away, so that I could walk
 upon the floor, thick with dust and dirt.
 The scene was impressive. Numbers of fig
 ures, with the white burnous bound round
 their heads by string, were erouching round with their rosaries of beads and prayer boards, chanting kind of Gregorian meas
 ure. This caused sort of vibrating hum to pervade the building At the foot of the pulpit are two red granite pillars, about twelve feet high, and some six inches apart
 Through these the faithful squeeze themselves
 into Paradise, having previously reduced their bodies by starvation for the purpose
 Nearly two and 8 half inches of granite have
 been torn away from one of the pillars by
 repeated friction, so that the entrance has become easier than it must once have been
 small slim boy of thirteen years of age
 was just able to slip through. To 8 full grown man 1t must have been severe trial
 The tomb of the barber, placed in an upper room in one of the mosques, is surrounded with trellis-work, covered with rich carpets and hung round with canopies, banners painted ostrich eggs and other offerings of
 the faithful. Every Friday, and also on oth- CT days in the week, penances take place at various mosques or religious houses in the town V riff have many social and pecuniary privileges, and belong to special caste of their own. went to one of these ceremonies. It l took place at hsIf-past eight in the evening, | two hours after dark. I entered a court yard and passed thence into whiteWashed room, stepping over the carved barrier about eighteen inches high, which is usual in Moor | ish houses. l then found myself in room, | as far as can guess, about thirty or forty | feet long by twenty or thirty feet wide. On
 the right, as we entered, WAS sort of alcove with dark marble pillars. The walls of the
 room which were somewhat irregular, were l daubed with whitewash and very dirty the
 floor was of mud and stone. Opposite the
 alcove, and on the left of the entrance door,
 was a huge wooden grating. behind which | the women were placed. In the center hung | an enormous chandelier of rough woodwork, ! perhaps about twelve feet square. and GOV
 cred with bits of candle, glasses with oil and | floating wicks, and scraps of glass and mir TOTS; an old glass chandelier being opposite
 the door, likewise garnished with oil lamps
 and scraps of taliow candle. The light was
 very dim, and the room had no windows ex-
 cept in the roof, which was high and very ir-
 regular in form, leading upward till it's shape | was lost in the gloom A piece of yellow | mating in the center, on the edge of | which was a small camp stool for the chief
 priest, For our accommodation two wooden l divans, in shape and size like camp bed | CHr he "a l the door. In the center of the mating was
 8 large iron brazier with tripod feet, filled 1 with glowing embers-l think of charcoal | Around this brazier, with their faces inward
 8 number of persons were sitting. or rather i squatting, in Oriental fashion, their shoes
 placed in rows outside the edge of the mat. | ting. Their dress consisted of 8 fez, with 8
 white and gold turban wound tightly round
 the lower part of it underneath this fez
 they wear white caps Their cleanliness was
 very remarkable, and presented striking
 contrast to the houses in which they live | On their bodies they wore white shirts and
 loose linen trousers, waistcoat of embroi- l dered cloth fastened on one shoulder, and B | loose robe down to the ankles with loose 1 hanging sleeves. Over all the burnous is
 worn like the Roman togs, hanging down
 over the left shoulder, and drawn up under
 the right into fold over the breast. About
 twenty of these in tho inner circle nearest 1 the brazier had musical instruments. The
 drums, which were the principal instruments
 were apparently made of green earThen-ware
 bottles turned upside down, the bottom ham,
 mered out and replaced by thick parchment l tied down with string They were accompa- | nied by pipes, tambourines and the clashing
 of pieces of hard wood and fragments of
 pottery. After we had been there 8 short
 time the music began under the direction of
 leader. At first the measure was slow, but | quickened in magnificent crescendos and di- l nf lQh This lasted nearly three-quarters of an hour. | The music was barbaric, but the religious l fervor of the performers gave it certain ar
 tistic merit that was very impressive. By
 degrees the devotees rose from the carpet and stood along the wall of the room oppo- site to us. They then began to sway from
 side to side, keeping time to the music ;
 then, as the music became louder, they swayed moro and more, sideway and for ! ward; at last bending down on one knee and
 rapidly rising again.
 l At last one of them began to roll his head
 round and round on his breast. Upon this 1 the lesser priests brought him forward on to the mating and removed the turban, fez and | white cap, leaving his head bare. The head
 was shaved, with the exception of long,
 thick bunch of hair in the center, which i sometimes hung down to the waist. With
 this the prophet will lift them into paradise. The music played louder'a and louder and they
 all began to Rroan-or rather, I should say,
 to howl-untiI the noise was almost insup- | portable. Then one after the other became
 seized with the delirium, rolling their heads
 and eyes in g manner that almost frightened
 me. Then the assistant priests removed the 1 garments from their shoulders, and the bra zier was handed from one to another, over
 which they held their heads to inhale its fumes Each man then knelt before the high priest, who prayed into each ear in suc- cession. A number of swords were then brought forward. They consisted .of broad
 blades of steel; instead of handles these swords were fitted into round blocks of wood
 about six inches in diameter and two inches thick. The devotees seized them with both i hands at the handle and point and began to 1 raise them over their heads and bring them
 down with all their force against their waists. Several of them knelt dop n and placed the ] points of the swords against the muscles of
 their shoulders near the neck. The priests
 then drove the points into the flesh with
 small wooden msllets. so as to project through the skin on the other side.