eam of worshippers flowing in through the portals of the house of
prayer. Here are the rich purse-proud merchants of Persia, clad in their
long black coats; there the full-bearded Maulavis. Behind them come smart
sepoys hailing from Northern India, golden-turbaned, shrewd-eyed Memon
traders and ruddy-complexioned close-bearded Jats from Multan. Nor is our
friend the dark Sidi wanting to the throng: and he is followed by the Arab
with his well-known head-gear, by the handsome Afghan, and by the broad-
shouldered native of Bokhara in his heavy robes. Mark too the hurried steps
of the brocade-worker from Surat, and note the contrast of colour as the
grimy fitter or black-smith passes through the porch side by side with the
spotlessly-clad Konkani Musulman, whose high features and olive skin betray
his Indo-Arab origin. Rich and poor, clean and unclean, all pass in to
prayer. As the concourse increases the shoes of the Faithful gather in
heaps along the inner edge of the porch: only the newer shoes are permitted
to lie, sole against sole, close to their owners, each of whom after
washing in the shaded cistern takes his place in the hindmost line of
worshippers.

* * * * *

As the service proceeds the ranks of the congregation kneel, stand, fall
prostrate, and press the brow upon the ground with a rhythm so reverential
and so dignified that the watcher forgets for a time the torn or tawdry
raiment, the grime of the factory, the dust of the streets, and feels that
each fresh attitude of devotion is indeed the true posture of prayer. It is
as a sea troubled by the breath of some unseen spirit,--wave upon wave
rising, bending, and finally casting itself low in humility and self-
sacrifice at the very footstool of the Most High. But all the worshippers
are men. "Where are the women," you ask; "do they not repeat the daily
prayers also?" "Verily yes," replies our guide; "they are all praying in
their homes at this hour. More regular, more reverent are they than we are;
and if we men but prayed as the women pray, no shadow would dim the
brightness of Islam."

* * * * *

[Illustration: An Arab.]

As the evening-prayer progresses groups of men and women with children in
their arms gather at the main entrance of the mosque. For the children are
vexed with sickness against which medicine has availed nought, and in a
higher healing lies their only chance of recovery. So,