aabaallah, although there is not the same occasion for
the articles, as will be observed when the burial service is explained.

I have seen females of rank, with their own hands, place red and green wax
lights in front of the Tazia in their halls, on the night of Mayndhie. I
was told, in answer to my inquiry, What was meant by the solemn process I
had witnessed?--that these ladies had some petition to make, for which
they sought the Emaum's intercession at the throne of mercy. The red light
was for Hosein, who died in battle; the green for Hasan, who died by
poison,--which these colours symbolize; and that those females place great
dependance on the fulfilment of their desires, who thus present to their
Emaums the wax lights on the night of Mayndhie.

I have remarked that the noblemen and gentlemen generally engaged in the
service of celebrating Mahurrum, walk on the tenth morning with their
heads bare and their feet uncovered from their homes to the burial
ground[2] called Kraabaallah, whatever may be the distance,--perhaps four
or five miles,--exposed to the fiery rays of the sun: some persons, who on
this occasion are very scrupulous in thus humbling their nature, walk back
again in the same manner, after the funeral ceremony has been duly gone
through at Kraabaallah. The magnitude of this undertaking can be only well
understood by those who have experienced the state of an atmosphere in the
shady rooms of a large house, when the thermometer ranges from eighty-four
to eighty-eight, or even ninety degrees; and when, if you venture to the
verandah for a few seconds, the flames of heated wind are not only
insupportable to Europeans, but frequently produce severe attacks of fever.
The luxurious habits of the Eastern great men may be well recollected when
counting over the proofs of zeal exhibited in this undertaking, where
every selfish consideration for the time is banished. The nobility (or
indeed any one who lays the slightest claim to gentility) never walk from
one house to another during their lives, but at this particular season;
even in their gardens indulging in whatever luxury they may boast, by
being conveyed round in their palkie, or thonjaun[22]--a chair with poles,
supported by bearers. On the tenth day, the good Mussulmauns rigidly fast
until after the third watch; not even a drop of water, or the hookha,
enters their mouths;--as they believe Hosein's sufferings only concluded
just before the third watch, th