The record-union., 1899-05-01
impression of something ultra-human-
at ONCE sublime and beStiaj

| outstretched arms, blinded by his &C.
stasy, he CROPPED his way down the
1 open line between the dancers and mu-
| sicians to- the other steward This man
| held in one hand a large cloth filed
with pieces of broken glass. One Of
these he took out and held in his right
hand at arms length. The ecstatic as
| he approached glared savagely at the
glass, CRASHED his teeth and stretched
out his head but he drew back; the re
| ligious intoxication was not quite COM
plete, and some glimmerings of COM
mon sense standards still struggled in
his disordered brain. He rushed back
to the first steward, was again en-
braced by him, and again crept back
along the line. Still, the Jagged, shin
| ing glass was too terrible Backward
and forward he went, sometimes CROP
ing along slowly, sometimes with the
| stealthy rush Of a tiger stalking its
prey At last, when the eager gesture
| of his outstretched neck made it clear
that no vestige of reluctance remained,
the steward clapped the glass into his
mouth and held his hand over 1T for
second. The devotee rushed back, as it
were, for consolation to the first stew
ard, and held him in tight embrace.
| For some time he remained so, making
| strange, incoherent gestures with his
arms, while the steward, gradually lift
| ing up his head, proceeded to massage
his face and throat. When his head was
| raised the man was still chewing and
swallowing the horrible mouthful After
he had recovered himself somewhat his
turban was wound around his head and
he was lifted and showed back into the
line of dancers, where he went on jig
! ging up and down, his head falling now
on one shoulder now on the other, with
blank, listless look in his face.
| After this first example of frenzied
devotion the spell of fear seemed to be
broken, and one after another the dan
GERS left the line (the dance never ceas-
ling for an instant, and the music keep
| ing up it's maddening DIM and rushed
at the steward who held the glass and
dealt out piece after piece. Soon even
the boys took part in it, and one hand
some fellow of sixteen came up and
stretched out toward the jagged morsel
as though it was for him the bread of
life For the most part, too, they
seemed to chew and swallow it with in
creasing ease, and the first steward had
little to do but wind on their turbans
and put them back into the line of
dancers. Then the man who had first
eaten and who had meanwhile recov-
cred his tone, came back for second,
and a little while after for third,
mouthful; but the frenzy was increas-
| ing upon him, and he had to be held
by three or four Arabs, who rushed up
from the sides to help the steward 1t
became a football scrimmage, and the
| four men had to put out all their
strength to collar and throw him. Fin
ally he was held down on the floor
| in sort of epileptic fit, throwing his
limbs about wildly, and literally bark
ing like huge dog. The divine ecstasy
was too much for him and he had be-
come a savage beast.
Nor was he the only one who became
unmanageable under the Intoxicating
Influences of dance and music. Some
| times. it is true when a devotee was
exceeding the usual bounds, his grow
| ing excitement could be instantly
assuaged by a few words from the writ
| ings eff the saint whispered into his ear
| by the steward; but in spite of this sew
eral broke loose, and one in especial
alarmed us by making his way round
the mosque toward our party. For
tunately, he was thrown and sat upon
by assistants before he reached US, as
| it is supposed that an Isawlyah VIII
! tear women in pieces when too power
| fully worked upon by the divine infiu-
| ence. When the service was over, and
the mosque gradually emptied we saw
three or four of these victims of the
divine frenzy lying about on the floor,
| by that time quite calm and exhausted,
and only groaning and barking htfully.
| Finally the glass-eating came to an
abrupt end, and in a curious way.
peculiarly fierce-looking and athletic
Arab who had for some time been de-
yeloping more and more religious
frenzy. and had eaten glass once or
twice without diminishing his desire Tor
it in the least, sprang at the steward
who resisted in vain-seized the cloth in
both hands, buried his face in 1T, and
munched up the remainder.
EATING NAILS AND CACTUS
LEAVES.
And now the other wonders began.
First. a. number of carpenters nails, at
least three inches long, were handed to
the steward, and a demure little man
stepped forward He did not belong to
the athletic and savage type of the ma
iority: he was quiet and domestic, a
man whom in Europe one would have
ascribed to the class of small shop
keersrs: but he had a look of calm con-
tentment. a conviction of divine peace
in his SOUL which contrasted with the
nurblind excitement of the others. Nor
was his ordeal a less trying one than
that of glass-eating. He stood quite
still held his head back and swallowed
three of the large iron nails, heads ana
all. as they were put into his mouth one
after another by the steward.
Then he retired, and two men came
in with a burnous full of prickly pear
leaves. The prickly pear as one sees II
in the south of Europe is sufficiently
formidable plant, but in North Africa
if grows to far larger proportions-the
leaves. or rather the fiat leaflike stems,
grow to nearly twice the size that they
do even in Sicily, and the prickles are
nfoportienately long and stubborn \
Moreover, the prickle is slightly poison
Gus and Leaves. fostering wound. Con-
secuently it seemed not. the least mi
raculous event of the service when
dancer stripped to the waist, and, tax
ing a hugh prickly pear leaf in each
hand proceeded to rub them all over
his naked body and shaver head, using
them as one might use a, loofah. There
could be no mistake about it that he
messed them against his skin with all
his might, and in the fury which he did
If tore leaf after leaf into pieces and
+oolx a fresh one from the heap. Some