But to my subject:—­The saddle is adorned with Hosein’s chain armour, gold turban, a richly set sword, with an embroidered belt:  some of the family and friends attend respectfully near the horse.  Then follow the bearers of incense, in gold censers, suspended to chains, which they wave about, fumigating the air with the refreshing smell of lahbaun,[16]—­a sweet-scented resin from the cedar of Lebanon, I imagine, though some suppose it to be the frankincense noticed in Scripture.

Next in the cavalcade is a chanter or reader of the Musseeah, who selects passages from that well-arranged work suited to the time when Hosein’s person was the mark for Yuzeed’s arrows, and which describe his conduct on the trying occasion; one or two couplets being chanted, the procession advances in slow time, halting every five minutes on the way from the beginning to the end of the march.  The reader is attended by the proprietor of the Tazia display, and his many relatives and friends, bare-footed, and without any covering on their heads;—­many of these persons throw chaff on their heads,[17] expressive of grief, and whilst the Musseeah is chanted, their boisterous expressions of sorrow are painfully severe to the mere observer of the scene.

The Tazia then follows, surrounded by banners, and covered with a canopy upheld by silver poles in the hands of the supporters, according to the general style of conveying their dead at the funerals of the Mussulmauns.  The canopy is of green, bordered and embroidered with gold.  The model of Cossum’s tomb follows in succession, which is covered with gold cloth, and has a canopy also supported over it, in the same way, by poles carried by several men.  The palkie and chundole of silver and tissue are next seen; the trays of Mayndhie, the flowers of uberuck, and the other paraphernalia of the marriage ceremony, follow in due order.  Then the camels and elephants, conveying the tent equipage and luggage of Hosein, form a long train, representing the supposed style of his march from Medina to Kraabaallah.

The last and most judicious feature in the arrangement is the several elephants with confidential servants, distributing bread and money to the poor, who are thus attracted to the rear in countless numbers, leaving the cavalcade in quiet possession of the space of roadway uncrowded by the multitude.  The bread given on these occasions is in great esteem amongst the females, who receive a small portion from the followers on their return from Kraabaallah with veneration, for the Emaum’s sake, in whose name it is given.  I have often been led to the remembrance of past times by this act of theirs, when the cross-buns of Good-Friday were esteemed by the aged women as possessing virtues beyond the mere substance of the cake.