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great and chivalrous Saladin, who are pensioners of the German Protestant Order of the “Johanniter” or Knights of St John of Jerusalem. The value placed upon connection with a good family is popularly expressed in the saying, “Take good stock, even on the mat,” i.e. marry a woman of good family, even though she possess nothing but a mat. On the other hand, persons assuming an arrogant demeanour solely on the strength of their supposed noble ancestry, and whilst lacking any personal merit themselves, are mercilessly ridiculed, as it is right that they should be. The principle “Noblesse oblige” is perfectly well appreciated, in theory, at any rate.

P. 148. “Affixed to the gates of the Ka‘aba.”—It was customary among the ancient Arabs to reward poets of acknowledged eminence by allowing copies of their verses to be affixed to the gate of the temple at Mecca. Seven such poems were thus distinguished, and are known in literature as the “Mo‘allakat” (Suspended Poems).

P. 148. Mûkleh.—An illustration of this form of head-dress will be found on page 49 of Lane’s “Modern Egyptians,” vol. i. It is not uncommon in Palestine, where there may, at the present day, be seen no fewer than sixty different forms of Oriental male head-gear, by which Christians, Jews, Moslems, Beda, different classes of derwishes and peasants from various districts, etc., may be distinguished from each other.

P. 150. Long hair of a priest of the Orthodox Church.—The ecclesiastics of the Orthodox Greek Community are remarkable for wearing their hair very long. Many Moslem derwishes do the same, but amongst the Mohammedan peasantry it is customary to shave the head, leaving only a tuft called “shisheh” on the crown. The tale often told by Christian dragomans to tourists is, that this tuft is left in order that Mohammed or good angels may have something to lay hold of, when carrying dead Mohammedans to heaven, in the same way that the Prophet Habakkuk was transported to Babylon. (See “Bel and the Dragon,” verse 36.) However, the more reasonable explanation is that the custom originated in the fear that if a Moslem should fall into the hands of an infidel and be slain, the latter might cut off the head of his victim,