] 86 RELIGION.

from one family to another. They also make vows, for example, not to smoke for the remainder of their lives, to abstain from merissa and coffee, each man choosing the hardship he likes best ; in short, they are the same as the Derweeshes among the Turks, but with this wide difference, that they are looked upon as saints. I found the greatest number of Fakeers among the Dongolavi, who are also the most rigid observers of the Mahommedan religion, with one single exception, that they are very fond of brandy. They do not follow agricultural pursuits, but are merchants, brokers, &zc. They are said, as a rule, to be all capable of reading and writing, and wear a long string of large wooden beads round their necks. The majority of them are hypocrites, and indeed it is better to avoid them altogether.

The Mahommedan negroes all live in a state of the most abject ignorance. Not many Fakeers are to be met with among them, and, with the exception of circumcision, they bear in fact very few signs of belonging to the Mahommedan religion. They have some peculiar ideas of their own on matters of faith, for example, on the creation of the world, and mix up a great deal of superstition with the Koran, with which they are altogether but very little acquainted. Thus an old negro explained to me why God Almighty allowed white men, darkcoloured, and black men, to live together in this world. When, namely, our first parents were driven out of Paradise after committing the original