_Hindustani_, (in addition to their native tongue,)
would scarcely be understood at _Agra_ or _Dilli_; and those two
cities are the best sites to acquire the real _Urdu_ in perfection;
there the inhabitants speak it not only correctly but elegantly.

[8] The Muhammadans believe that the body of their prophet cast
no shadow. _Mustafa_ means "The Chosen," "The Elected," one of
Muhammad's titles.

[9] As a general rule, all Muhammadan books begin with a few sentences
devoted to the praise of God and the eulogy of the prophet Muhammad;
to which some add a blessing on the twelve _Imams_.

[10] The twelve _Imams_ are the descendants of the prophet, by his
daughter _Fatima_, who was married to her cousin-german _'Ali,_ who is
considered as the first _Imam_; the other eleven were the following,
viz., _Hasan_, the son of _'Ali; Husain_, the son of _'Ali_; _'Ali_,
surnamed _Zainu-l-'Abidin,_ son of _Husain; Muhammad_, son of the
last mentioned; _Ja'far Sadik_, son of _Muhammad; Musa-l-Kazim,_ son
of _Ja'far; 'Al-i Raza_, son of _Musa; Muhammad_, son of _'Ali Raza;
'Ali 'Askari_, son of _Muhammad; Hasan 'Askari_: and lastly _Muhammad
Mahdi_. With regard to this last and twelfth _Imam_, some say, very
erroneously, that he is yet to appear. Now the fact is, the twelfth
_Imam_ has appeared. He lived and died like the rest of the sainthood;
otherwise what would be the use of praying for him? The Muhammadans
offer up prayers for the dead, but I never heard of their praying
for the unborn.

[11]

[12] Much nonsense has been written about this _Fasli_ aera. We are
told that "it dates from the Christian year 592 3/4"! but the fact is
that it was established no further back than the reign of Akbar. It
was engrafted on the Hijri aera in the first year of that monarch's
reign, with this proviso, that the _Fasli_ years should thenceforth
go on increasing by _solar_ calculation, and not by lunar; hence,
every century the Hijri aera gains three years on the _Fasli_, and
in Mir Amman's time the difference had amounted to nearly eight years.

[13] A _ghat_ is a long flight of steps, of stone or brick, leading
to a river for the purpose of bathing, drawing water, embarking or
disembarking. It is a high object of ambition in India, among the
wealthier classes of natives, to construct these _ghats_, and this
species of useful ostentation has produced some magnificent structures
of the kind on the rivers _Ganges_, and _Jumna_, which are of g