TURKISH SOLDIER AT PRAYERS. 7 



great unwillingness, was seen to retire slowly to 

 the spot where he had been going through his 

 devotions, and kneel down again. Again the 

 other Turk spoke to him in an authoritative tone, 

 again he slightly changed his position, till at last 

 being fixed with his head fairly towards Mecca, 

 he went through the same prostrations as he had 

 done before. On inquiry, we found that the 

 unfortunate soldier had gone through the cere- 

 mony wrong, and that his superior had obliged 

 him to commence and do it all over again, be- 

 cause he had said his first prayers with his face, 

 by some mistake, slightly averted from the di- 

 rection of the holy city. 



Having finished our frugal repast, we began to 

 think of mounting our horses and proceeding on 

 our journey, when, to our surprise and dismay, the 

 guides, with the greatest imaginable coolness, said 

 we must remain at Philates for the night. " Not 

 proceed ! !" We were by turns indignant, furious, 

 and inclined to treat it as a joke. Did the guides 

 really mean to force us to obey them ? We soon 

 saw that they had made up their minds that they 

 had travelled quite far enough for that day, and 

 that, right or wrong, proceed they would not. 



