the appointed time arrives, they fall on their knees, and go through
with the whole routine of prayers and bodily prostrations. One day
several Moslems called on us in Tripoli, at the eighth hour of the day
(about 2 o'clock P.M.), and after they had been sitting some
time engaged in conversation, one of them arose and said to his
companions, "I must pray.". They all asked, "Why? It is not the hour of
prayer." "Because," said he, "when I went to the mosque at noon to pray,
I had an ink-spot on my finger nail, and did not perceive it until after
I came out, and hence my prayer was of no account. I have just now
scraped it off, and must repeat my noon prayer." So saying, he spread
his cloak upon the floor, and then kneeling upon it with his face
towards Mecca, commenced his prayers, while his companions amused
themselves by talking about his ceremonial strictness. One of them said
to me, "He thinks he is holy, but if you could see the _inside_ of him,
you would find it black as pitch!" He kept his head turned to hear what
was being said, and after he had finished, disputed a remark one of them
had made while he was praying. Such people worship God with their lips,
while their hearts are far from him.

Moslems have a great horror of swine. They think us barbarians to eat
ham or pork. In February, 1866, the Moslems of Beirût were keeping the
Fast of Ramadan. For a whole month of each year they can eat and drink
nothing between sunrise and sunset, and they become very cross and
irritable. In Hums, some Moslems saw a dog eating a bone in Ramadan, and
killed him because he would not keep the fast. They fast all day, and
feast all night. Ramadan is really a great nocturnal feast, but it is
hard for the working people to wait until night before beginning the
feast. During that fast of 1866, a Maronite fellah came into Beirût
driving a herd of swine to the market. Now of all sights in the world,
the sight of swine is to an orthodox Moslem the most intolerable, and