CUSTOMS. 35 then say, (I now speak of the middle order of society,) " And how are you, and how have you been : how long it is since I saw you ! and how are you, and how are your children ; (uhel Dar'kume,) and the people of your family, how are they, certainly you are well:'* and so they will go on, sometimes for a quarter of an hour, repeating the same thing. If an inferior meets a superior, he kisses his hand or his garment and retires, when there is a greater disparity of rank, the inferior kisses the stirrup of the superior ; or prostrates himself if the superior is a prince, a fakeer, or a bashaw.

Another salutation among respectable individuals is, by each placing his right hand on his heart, indicating that part to be the residence of the friend !

The Jews of this country retain the customs of their ancestors more pure and unmixed than those in other countries.

When a Jew dies he is interred the same day, or the day after at farthest. The female relations and the friends of the deceased assemble round the corpse, and utter bitter lamentations, tearing their faces and their hair in a most woeful manner ; they disfigure their faces with their finger-nails, till they bleed, and during the whole time keep stamping or moving their legs, beating time, as it were, with their feet ; these lamentations are continued, with occasional intermission, till the body of the deceased is carried away for interment. The per-