1890] The Philosophy of Superstition 37 



" Zeyd. Ay, verily. The tomb of a saint. The fellahin have a 

 hundred thousand saints. They are a credulous people. They kill 

 sheep for Abu Seriyeh still, though he has been dead a thousand years. 



" /. And we, too, killed a sheep when we went on the pilgrimage to 

 Abu Seriyeh three years ago. 



" Zeyd. Yes, to bring a blessing on your camels. And one of your 

 camels died within the year. How can a Sheykh, a holy man who has 

 been dead so long, help any one, beast or man? 



" /. This, too, is philosophy. 



" Zeyd. No. It is truth. An uncle or a grandfather, I can under- 

 stand that one should give them a sheep, but not to Abu Seriyeh. This 

 land is full of the tombs of holy men. The fellahin are a credulous 



people. 



* * * * 



"Zeyd. This road from Kafr el Shorafa to the bridge, how often 

 I used to think of it when I was journeying from Syria with the 

 Seglawi horse, the grey Seglawi, and the Jilfa mare. I used to ask 

 of God that he would grant me this, that I might ride along the sand 

 just here with them in safety. And see, I arrived with them and rode 

 along this very road. 



"I. Thank God. 



" Zeyd. Yes, thank God. There is no word it does one more good 

 to say than this, ' thank God,' when a danger is past. El hamdii I'lllah; 



el hamdul I'lllah ! " 



* * * * 



Another conversation of nearly the same date has the additional 

 interest that it concerns a mission I had sent him on the year before, to 

 purchase a stallion for me from the Anazeh in Northern Arabia. 



" Zeyd. I will tell you how I bought the Seglawi [this was the 

 stallion ' Azrek,' see General Stud Book]. I did not, of course, tell 

 them the truth, that I was the servant of the Bey (meaning me). 

 There is no shame in this. It is policy (siasa). I am a master of 

 policy. I made a deceit. I said to them that I was of the Agheylat, 

 looking for horses for India, horses from the north and tall ones, for 

 those are the horses that bring most price in India. What did I want 

 with the pure bred ? I wanted to make money. And so I went to the 

 Sebaa. I alighted at Ibn ed Derri's tent, as it were by accident. But 

 I made a mistake. It was not the tent of Mishlab Ibn ed Derri, but 

 of his brother Fulan (the name Fulan is used as we say So-and-So). 

 There are four brothers. Fulan and Fulan and Fulan and Mishlab. 

 Mishlab was the owner of the Seglawi. I stayed there for three days, 

 without speaking of the Seglawi. The horse was at pasture and I 

 did not see him. On the fourth day came Mishlab to breakfast with 

 his brother, and they killed a lamb — and behold the Seglawi was with 



