dead. Another Derwish was bitten in the thumb in June, 1892, in the environs of Lydda. No particulars are known about him. He came to the Mosk at Lydda and fell down in the court, and died without letting the Daboia go; he had choked her, for they both were found dead. Happily most Derwishes well know the dreadful effect of the bite of this serpent, and the rapidity with which the fangs are replaced when taken out. It is true the fangs can very easily be plucked out, but others soon come in their place. I found seven fangs on each side. Daboias resist hunger for an astonishing length of time. I have never seen them take any food, though I kept several upwards of a year without their touching the food given them, such as live mice, lizards, or other serpents. When a Derwish is initiated into this Order, he takes a piece of sugar from the mouth of the Khalify, and, whilst the Khalify reads his verses, appointing him to the Order, and making him serpent and poison-proof, he spits in his mouth from time to time, as giving him of his juice; this is also often done to others not belonging to the Orders, to make them serpent-proof—Christians, Jews, or Mohammedans. But even these serpent-proof candidates, حاوي and محوى (literally surrounder and surrounded) (by the protection of the Erfa'i), do not always touch serpents, although in the act of being "surrounded," a serpent is to be put round the neck of the candidate, and the ear-lap bitten by the serpent; the Hawi then licks it up, invoking his Lord. It seems a grey falcon is the bird par excellence into which the Derwishes, or at least the Khalify, can sometimes be changed, or at least which the Chief of the Order appears and protects. Ibn Batoutah, the Tangiers traveller, says that "the virtuous Sheikh Ehmad el Erfa'y lived in Um Obeidah, and had great friendship with Abu Medin Sho'aib, son of El Hosain. Sheikh Ehmad had palm-trees. One year, when he was cutting the dates, he left a bunch for his brother Sho'aib, هذا برسى اخي شعيب. They afterwards met in the holy station at 'Arafat. The servant of Sheikh Ehmad, Reslan, رسلان had heard about the dates, and asked him if he now wanted them. Sheikh Ehmad allowed him to have them, and soon after he laid the dates before them. The people of the abode of the Sheikh Ehmad afterwards said that in the evening of the day of 'Arafat they saw a grey falcon, باز اشهب, come down on the palm-tree, take the dates and fly away in the air. Thus in Damascus, near the gate Eidjabiyeh, on the burying-place of the pious Reslan, this was written A.D. 1326. العباد الصالح رسلان المعروف بالباز الشهيه
III. The Seyyed Ehmad el Badawy was considered the most holy before Abd el Kader, and is still so acknowledged, at least by his Derwishes. They wear the red woollen turban, and have a red standard. His tomb is in Tantah, in Egypt, and his feast is held about the Nile overflow. This Order is the most popular, and greatly venerated in Palestine. In the processions they are very wild, beating themselves, and sticking great
