MOETIFYING THE FLESH. 183 



are so extraordinarily great, is, I believe, from 

 all I heard, an admirable actor, and I am 

 at any rate very sure that he is an exceed- 

 ingly clever man, but it is rumoured that 

 his annual visits to Khyrpoor are influenced 

 rather by the attractions of beauty than spirit- 

 ual considerations, at least such was the current 

 rumour of the place. During the Mohurrum fes- 

 tival most Mahomedans affect to maintain a 

 serious demeanour. The Meer abstains from 

 field sports, the women are not allowed to wear 

 any sort of ornament, and both sexes are obliged 

 to appear in mourning garments of green, black, 

 or Khakee, a sort of slate-colour, which is very 

 becoming to them. They also affect to mor- 

 tify their bodies, and during the festival will 

 not sleep on a charpoy, but pretend to believe, 

 or make themselves fancy, that they lie on 

 the ground, simply because they turn the 

 charpoy upside down, as if doing so made 

 any difference in their comfort. Now, if a 

 Sindhi really wished to mortify his flesh, he 

 would abstain from tlie hookah during the 

 festival ! 



On the ninth night of Mohurrum the tastes are 

 brought out and carried round in procession, 



