THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN ankles were tied together, and the hands folded over the breast. When the body had been laid on a stretcher with a light wooden cover above it, over which a coloured cloth was thrown, two men came, and, lifting up the bier, carried it away feet foremost for burial. The women of the house followed, uttering the familiar lulu cry, and these were joined by a number of friends and relations of the deceased, somfe of whom marched before and some behind the bier. The men began to sing verses from the Kur'an, among them being the Shahada, or " Testimony," i and the Fatha,-or opening Sura (chapter). When the procession reached the hill to the west of the village the coloured cloth and wooden cover were removed from the stretcher, and the body was lifted into a shallow trench dug in the sandy soil, the sides and bottom of which were lined with rough flat stones. The body was laid with its face towards Mekka, and when it was being covered up with sand it was noticeable that cavities were left at the head and feet.

Pious Muhammadans believe that the angels Munkar and Nakir come to the grave on the night after the burial of the body and question the soul of the deceased, which awaits them there, as to its belief in God, and His Prophet Muhammad, and concerning its views about the religion of Al-Islam, and the Kur'an, and the Ka'aba at Mekka, and the Unity of God. If the answers of the soul convince the two angels of its orthodoxy, they say, " Sleep, •" O servant of God, in the protection of God," and they allow the body to rest in peace, and to breathe the air of Paradise. If, on • It runs, "There is no god but God, Muhammad is the Apostle of God, may " God bless and preserve him."

It runs, " Praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures ; the most merciful, the " King of the day of judgment. Thee do we worship, and of Thee do we beg " assistance. Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom Thou hast "been gracious ; not of those against whom Thou art incensed, nor of those " who go astray." (Sale's translation.)

' The Ka'aba is a rectangular building at Mekka, 24 cubits long, 23 cubits wide, and 27 cubits hi.h ; it has a door on the east side. In it is the famous Black Stone, which is set in silver, and is placed in the south-east corner about 2\ cubits above the gnnmd. This stone is said to have come from Paradise with Adam, and to have been given by Gabriel to Abraham when he built the original Ka'abi ; originally its colour was white. The Muhammadans always turn when praying towards the Ka'aba. See Sale's " Preliminary Discourse," p. 91, and Masudi, ''Prairies d'Or,"iv. 125-129.

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