400 
serve to display the majesty of this temple better than 
the light of the sun. I confess I had not a complete 
idea of it until I saw it in a state of perfect illumina- 
tion. 
The manner in which all these lamps are extinguish- 
ed was new T to me. Several men agitated the air with 
large fans of feathers, and at every movement extin- 
guished ten, twelve, or twenty lights, though at six or 
eight feet distance from the fan; so that the temple be- 
came dark in an instant. 
Whilst they lavish so many lights in the temples, 
and even upon the towers, where they are of no use, 
there is not a single lamp in the streets; the mud and 
the wet soil are perfectly black; the houses, painted with 
dark colours, help to obscure the atmosphere; the moon 
ceases to shine by night towards the end of Ramadan, 
and the profound darkness which reigns in all the 
streets, added to the mud with which they are covered, 
upon a bad pavement, more or less on the descent, 
renders the progress of passengers very tiresome, un- 
less they have lanterns before them. The inhabitants 
use small ones made of linen, but they give so feeble a 
light, that it is difficult to distinguish the persons who 
carry them; so that the number of pale lights which 
may be seen moving about during the night, as if sus- 
pended in the lower regions of air, resemble a dance of 
phantoms. There is not a single woman to be seen in 
the streets at night. 
The Ramadan having finished on the last day of 
November, Easter was celebrated the first of Decem- 
ber. The Sultan celebrated the festival at the mosque 
Ahmed Djeamissi, according to custom, as before 
stated. Being desirous of seeing the procession I would 
not go into the mosque, because his highness enters 
