286 THE NATIVE MANUSCRIPTS IV. d3.
parents to dedicate this tuft to some famous saint ("Sheikh"), to whose kubha the "visits" mentioned in note to No. 2 are paid, vowing at the same time some gift, such as a sheep or a camel or some money to the saint in case of their hopes being fulfilled. When the child has reached the age of about 4 or 5 years the parents, in fulfilment of their vow, take him (or her) to the kubba of the saint and discharge their vow. One
of the guardians of the shrine, i.e. a descendant of the " Sheikh," then cuts off the tuft of hair. The tuft is as a rule left in the kubba, but, at Wad Hasuna for instance, it is hung up on a tree sacred to the Sheikh just out-
side the kubba, and remains there till some accident happens to remove
it: see note to No. 132. The technical word for this dedication is ^^o-
C howwara") : e.g. 9.*^ jJ^Jj j^a^J means "we dedicate the boy {i.e. his
hair) to the Sheikh." Cp. the word "howdr," "a disciple," explained in Hughes, p. 169, q.v. There is a mention of the cutting of the tuft in biography No. 132 (q.v.).
That the origin of these customs is of ancient date is clear when one
reads in Herodotus (Bk. 11, §65) "The inhabitants of the various cities [of Egypt], when they have made a vow to any god, pay it to his animals in the way which I will now explain. At the time of making the vow they shave the head of the child, cutting off all the hair, or else half, or some-
times a third part, which they then weigh in a balance against a sum of
silver; and whatever sum the hair W'cighs is presented to the guardian of the animals."
It will not be out of place here to describe the votive offerings and such like which I saw in November 19 13 hung on the gnarled old heglik tree standing in front of the kubba of Sheikh Hasan walad Hasuna (No. 132) at the village that bears his name.
1. Many small tufts of hair from children's heads (" 'urw/"); some of these were wrapped in little bags.
2. Large bunches of women's hair. These had been left by women whose hair had begun falling out and who looked to the saint to re-
store it.
3. Several little bundles of the shin-bones of sheep and goats which
had been sacrificed at the time of the naming ceremony {" sa7nd/a").
4. Several miniature shepherd's crooks of this shape j~ . These were about a foot long and were imitations of the long staff' {"tnah- gan") of the same shape which the Arabs use for shaking down pods
(" 'ulayf") from the acacia trees for their goats to browse upon. The dedication of these sticks is the equivalent of a prayer that the boy may become a good herdsman.
5. Some bundles of big bones, chiefly camels'. It was explained that these had belonged to animals which had died of some disease, and the owners had dedicated the bones to the Sheikh in the hope that he would stay the disease from the rest of the herd.
6. Many camels' hobbles ("'w/ca/"). These were deposited by the owners of camels which had strayed or fallen sick, in the expectation of the aid of the Sheikh in finding or healing the beasts.