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tablished a second species of criers or convocators at 
Djedda, who force the faithful to repair to the temple. 
At the appointed hours for prayer, they parade the 
streets crying, " Let us go to prayers, to prayers;" they 
drive all persons before them, and oblige them to go to 
the mosques; they even constrain workmen and shop- 
keepers to abandon their occupations, and their shops, 
and force them to assist at the public prayers five times 
a day as prescribed by law. They begin their cries be- 
fore dawn of day, and make so much noise in the 
streets, that they oblige every one to rise and go to the 
temple. How ardent is their zeal! It is without doubt 
more pure than that of the people, who at the same 
hour make a tremendous noise with drums to awake- 
the married people. The one is matter, the other spirit. 
Perhaps the beating of the drums had its origin in reli- 
gion as well as the convocations of the*Wehhabites, 
which will probably degenerate in the same manner. 
The costume of these criers is very simple. They are 
almost naked, having only white drawers, and a cloth 
plaited and thrown over the shoulder. They have each 
an enormous stick. I was assured that these criers had 
already been introduced at Mecca, to force the people 
to go to the mosque, but they are more moderate in 
that city, for they only cry out, scold, and push all those 
they meet. At least this was what I perceived from my 
casements which opened in the great square. 
There arrived during my stay at Djedda a ship as 
large as a corvette from Bengal, with the mussulman 
red flag, mounting twenty guns, and loaded with rice. 
The trade receives annually four or five ships of this 
kind, which are loaded not only with rice, but with the 
other productions of India. 
