This sacred or profane desire to travel braves all danger; this vague thought of tearing himself away from his family, friends, and countrymen to see the wide world, surrounds the hadjis with a certain poetry. I had lived weeks with my companions, and yet it always interested me to behold them, palm-staff in hand, as a sacred memento of Arabia, vigorously making their way through the deep sand or mud. They were returning happily to their homes; but how many did I meet who only commenced their long and tedious journey; and yet, they were equally happy. On my road from Samarkand to Teheran, I had as a companion a native of Chinese Tartary, who, in total ignorance of the route he had to take, asked me every evening, even when we were yet at Meshed, whether we should see to-morrow, or at the farthest after to-morrow, the minarets of Mekka. The poor fellow had no idea of how much he would have to endure before he reached his destination. However, this should not surprise us when we remember that, during the time of the crusades, so many honest Teutons undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and after two or three days' journey, hoped to behold the walls of Jerusalem.*

The routes to Arabia, adopted by the pious Tartars, are the following:-1. Yarkand,† Kilian, Tibet, and Kashmir. 2. Through Southern Siberia, Karyan, and Constantinople. 3. Through Afghanistan and India to Djedda. 4. Through Persia, Bagdad, and Damascus. None of these routes is comfortable; and the amount of danger to be incurred depends very much upon the season of the year, and the political state of the countries through which they pass. The travellers form themselves into large or small companies, and elect a chief (Chaush) from amongst themselves, who also fills amongst them the office of Imam (the person who first says the prayers

See Noerselt's Geschichte für Töchterschulen; who also states, that many pilgrims, ignorant of the road, allowed themselves to be led by a frightened goose which ran before them.

+ From Yarkend (Jarkend) to Kilian, on the boundary line, are three days journey; from thence by way of Tagarma and Kadun to Thibet, twenty days; and thence to Kashmir, fifteen days.

seems to have any pricks of conscience in taking to his coreligionist in Arabia a few articles from distant Turkomania. The products of Bockhara and other holy places of Central Asia are in high esteem amongst the people of Arabia; besides everybody wishes to show a hadji some favour, and is easily induced to pay double the value for any article offered. This small trade is carried on between the easternmost point of Islamitic Asia to the Galata bridge of Constantinople. Amongst the crowd of that famous capital, one often sees a Tartar whose features contrast as strongly with the rest of the population as the colours of his silk kerchiefs differ from those of our European manufacture. Fine ladies seldom become purchasers of such articles; but frequently one sees old matrons, inspired by feelings of piety, paying a good price for them, pressing and rubbing them hard upon their faces and foreheads, and, repeating aloud Allahumu sella! continue their walk.

That the ready sale of the exported articles leads to the importation of similar merchandise, needs no confirmation. No hadji leaves the holy places without making some purchases. At Mecca he lays in a stock of scents, dates, rosaries, and combs, but especially water from the sacred well called Zemzem.* In Yambu and Djidda are bought European goods; these consist of penknives, scissors, needles, thimblets, etc., and go by the name of Mali Istambul (Stamboul goods), as the unbelieving Franks must not obtain credit for anything. Aleppo and Damascus enjoy the reputation of supplying the best misvak, a fibrous root, used as tooth-brushes by all pious Moslems. In Bagdad is bought a hirkia of camel's hair, and made at this place of superior quality. It is this kind of garment which the Prophet is said to have worn next to his skin. Finally, in Persia ink-powder, and pens made of

* Zemzem is the name of a famous well on the road, of miraculous power, the water of which is exported in small vessels to all Islamitic countries, as a single drop of it, taken just at the moment of death, frees from five hundred years of purgatory. The origin of the well is ascribed to Ismael, who, after being left behind by Hagar, stamped his little foot, and made the well spring up.

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III.-Some Remarks on the Origin, Manners, Customs, and Superstitions of the Gallinas People of Sierra Leone. By J. M. HARRIS, F.R.G.S., F.A.S.L.

THE tribe or people now known under the name of "Gallinas," in consequence of their being located upon the banks of the river so called by the Spanish and Portuguese slave-traders, appears to be an offshoot of the great Mandingo nation; and from what I have gathered in conversation with the elders of the tribe, I should imagine that they migrated from the interior beyond the Koronkho country to the seaboard, about two hundred years ago.

It is not easy to ascertain the precise cause of their starting on this journey, but it was most probably undertaken for the purpose of enriching themselves by the plunder of the people whom they encountered on their route, as they carried terror into all the countries traversed by them, capturing small towns and unprotected villages, and spreading desolation wherever they passed. They might also have been originally actuated by religious motives, and a desire to proselytise the the heathen tribes which lay between their own country and the sea. But whatever was the original motive of their undertaking such a journey, it is certain that the ancestors of the actual inhabitants of the Gallinas country forced their way through some two hundred and fifty miles of country, marching from town to town, allowing such of the inhabitants as chose to do so to join them, and become amalgamated with them, and making slaves of those who refused to join them, either for their own use, or to be sent back as slaves to the country from which the emigrants started. By these means gathering strength and numbers as they proceeded, they became very numerous, and eventually reached the coast at Cape Mount.