in a few yards of the water,
as we ride into the place. The elders, in charge of a _shkando_, or
deacon, who directs them, are gathering bundles of long reeds and wattles,
which they weave quickly and deftly into a sort of basket work. An oblong
space is marked out about sixteen feet long and twelve broad by stouter
reeds, which are driven firmly into the ground close together, and then
tied with strong cord. To these the squares of woven reeds and wattles are
securely attached, forming the outer containing walls of the tabernacle.
The side walls run from north to south, and are not more than seven feet
high. Two windows, or rather openings for windows, are left east and west,
and space for a door is made on the southern side, so that the priest when
entering the edifice has the North Star, the great object of their
adoration, immediately facing him. An altar of beaten earth is raised in
the centre of the reed-encircled enclosure, and the interstices of the
walls well daubed with clay and soft earth, which speedily hardens. On one
side of the altar is placed a little furnace of dark earthenware, and on
the other a little handmill, such as is generally used in the East for
grinding meal, together with a small quantity of charcoal. Close to the
southern wall, a circular basin is now excavated in the ground, about
eight feet across, and from the river a short canal or channel is dug
leading to it. Into this the water flows from the stream, and soon fills
the little reservoir to the brim. Two tiny cabins or huts, made also of
reeds and wickerwork, each just large enough to hold a single person, are
then roughly put together, one by the side of the basin of water, the
other at the further extremity of the southern wall, beyond the entrance.
The second of these cabins or huts is sacred to the _Ganzivro_ or high
priest of the Star-worshippers, and no layman is ever allowed to even so
much as touch the walls with his hands after it is built and placed in
position. The doorway and window openings of the edifice are now hung with
white curtains; and long before midnight, the hour at which the prayer
meeting commences, the little _Mishkna_, or tabernacle open to the sky, is
finished and ready for the solemnity.

Towards midnight the Star-worshippers, men and women, come slowly down to
the _Mishkna_ by the riverside. Each, as he or she arrives, enters the
tiny wattled hut by the southern wall, disrobes and bathes in the little
circu