is a new tree), meaning thereby that the man is a new spirit-house and has
never before been possessed. A little further on the procession, which has
now swelled to considerable size, is stopped by a Mahomedan from Ahmednagar
who seeks relief. He places his hand upon the Dula's shoulder and asks for
a sign. "Repeat the creed," mutters the ecstatic bridegroom. "Repeat the
durud," say the Dula's supporters; and all present commence to repeat the
"Kalmah" or creed and the "Durud" or blessing. Then turning to the
Mahomedan who stopped him, the bridegroom of Husein cries: "Sheikh
Muhammad, thou art possessed by a jinn--come to my shrine on Thursday
next," and with these words sets forth again upon his wanderings. Further
down the Bhendi Bazaar a Deccan Mhar woman comes forward for enlightenment,
and the Dula, after repeating the Kalmah, promises that she will become a
mother before the year expires; while close to Phulgali a Konkani Musulman
woman, who has been possessed for six months by a witch (Dakan), is flicked
thrice with the peacock-feather brush and bidden to the Dula's shrine on
the following Thursday. So the Dula fares gradually forward, now stopped by
a Kunbi with a sick child, now by some Musulman mill-hands, until he
reaches the Bismillah shrine, where he falls forward on his face with
frothing mouth and convulsed body. The friends help the spirit which racks
him to depart by blowing into his ear a few verses of the Koran; whereat
the Dula, after a possession of about four hours, regains consciousness,
looks around in surprise, and retires to his home fatigued but at last
sane.

Wherever a "tazia" or tomb is a-building, there gather all the Mohurrum
performers, the Nal Sahebs or Lord Horse-shoes, the tigers and the mummers
of Protean disguise. The spot becomes an "Akhada" or tryst at which the
tomb-builders entertain all comers with draughts of sherbet or sugared
water, but not with betel which has no place in seasons of mourning. Here
for example comes a band of Marathas and Kamathis with bells upon their