386 
my eyes, forehead, nose, and mouth, With a hair fixed 
in a piece of black wax, and recited several prayers at 
every touch, whilst I remained in the most solemn 
state of restraint. After this ceremony I offered up my 
prayer, and deposited my offering, which appeared so 
considerable to the minister, that he offered to repeat 
the ceremony of the plate and the hair, which I accepted 
with delight as a -distinguished favour. He gave me 
moreover a little bottle of water in which the sacred 
hairs had been dipt, and I took my leave perfectly de- 
lighted. The hair which the minister used for this 
ceremony was a little reddish, curly, strong, and about 
the breadth of two fingers in length. Accustomed to 
reflect upon all that passed around me, I could not re- 
frain from admiring upon this occasion, the miracle of 
divine providence, who has rendered a whole family 
rich and opulent, by the profit of a single tuft of hair! 
I went the next day to visit a house in which a piece 
of the robe of the Prophet is preserved; there was a 
guard of janissaries and scherifs at the door; the house 
was filled with women, .who go commonly in the morn- 
ing to worship the relics, and several carriages were 
waiting in the street; I was informed it would be im- 
possible to enter before the noon prayer; I therefore 
waited in a neighbouring mosque until the appointed 
hour. There are persons at the door, who for a gratifi- 
cation give bottles of water, in which it is asserted the 
relic has been dipt. 
It is customary for visiters to leave their slippers at 
the foot of the stairs, where there is a scherif to take 
care of them. They enter first into a hall of an irregular 
form, with a very low roof, and offer up a prayer, after 
which they go into the chapel, where the relic is de- 
posited; it is a room ten or eleven feet square, but very 
