58 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 



it; for as he is generally impressed with extrava- 

 gant ideas of the sanctity of the place, he is easily 

 imposed upon before his enthusiasm begins to cool. 

 To rent a house in which some learned Rabbi or 

 saint died, to visit their tombs, to have the sacred 

 books opened in his presence, or public prayers read 

 for his salvation ; all these inestimable advantages, 

 besides various other minor religious tricks, quickly 

 strip the stranger of his last farthing. He then 

 becomes dependent upon the charity of his nation, 

 upon foreign subsidies, or the fervour of some new 

 comer, as inexperienced as himself. 



The Jews here spend almost their whole time in 

 the schools and synagogues. They possess some 

 very beautiful copies of the books of Moses, written 

 upon leather instead of parchment, and perhaps 

 manufactured at Bagdad, where the best Hebrew 

 scribes live. " They observe a singular custom in 

 praying : while the Rabbi recites the Psalms of 

 David, or the supplications extracted from them, 

 the people frequently imitate by their voices or ges- 

 tures the meaning of some remarkable passage ; for 

 example, when the Rabbi pronounces the words, 

 * Praise the Lord with the sound of the trumpet,' 

 they imitate the instrument through their closed 

 fists. When ' a horrible tempest' occurs, they puff 

 and blow, to represent a storm ; or should he men- 

 tion ' the cries of the righteous in distress,' they 

 all set up a loud screaming; and it often happens, 

 that while some are still blowing the storm, others 

 have already begun the cries of the righteous* 



