distinguished by its having a little chatr in gold or silver, fixed on the top of it. All these things were collected in the long room in the house of the Nawāb, ready for the nocturnal perambulations of the faithful.
After the loss of the battle of Kraabaallah, the family of Hussein were carried away captive with his son Zein-ool-Abaīdīn, the only male of the race of Alī who was spared, and they were sent to Medina. With them were carried the heads of the martyrs; and that of Hussein was displayed on the point of a lance, as the cavalcade passed through the cities. In consequence of the remonstrances and eloquence of Zein-ool-Abaīdīn, the orphan son of Hussein, the heads of the martyrs were given to him; and forty days after the battle they were brought back to Kraabaallah, and buried, each with its own body; the mourners then returned to Medina, visited the tomb of the Prophet, and all Medina eventually became subject to Zein-ool-Abaīdīn.
Alī, the son-in-law of Muhammad, was, according to the Shī'as, the direct successor of the Prophet; they not acknowledging the other three caliphs; but, according to the Sunnīs, he was the fourth Khalifa, or successor of Muhammad.
The Muharram concludes on the fortieth day, in commemoration of the interment of the martyrs at Kraabaallah, the name of a place in Irāk, on the banks of the Euphrates, which is also—and, perhaps, more correctly—called Karbalā. At this place the army of Yuzeed, the King, was encamped; while the band of Hussein, including himself, amounting only to seventy-two persons, were on the other side of an intervening jungle, called Mareea.
The Nawāb is a very public-spirited man, and does much good; he took me over a school he founded, and supports, for the education of native boys; showed me a very fine chīta (hunting leopard), and some antelopes, which were kept for fighting. For the public benefit, he has built a bridge, a ghāt, and a sarā'e, a resting-place for travellers; all of which bear his name.
The Begam, having been informed that I was with the Nawāb,
