The principal streets were thronged with people going in the same direction: men in clean robes, who yawned, still half asleep; women, black-shrouded, bearing palm-branches, with trays of eatables upon their heads; small girls in tinselled gauze of divers colours, and boys in stiff new clothing⁠—all with earnest faces, pressing out towards the cemeteries. Barakah kept peeping through the shutter at the solemn crowd, to which the fitful gleam of swinging lanterns added weirdness. The concourse gave forth a dull clatter, above which was heard the rumble of the carriage wheels upon the stones, the shouts the coachman raised to clear a way. Then suddenly all noise of going ceased, although their wheels still rolled and the besetting throng was even denser than before. They were on sand. The people murmured like a shell. The desert hill rose imminent against the stars. On all sides spread a wilderness of humble graves, each with its family group encamped beside the headstone. Then came a steep incline, up which the horses struggled under whip and cursing; and lo! they were once more in city streets. On every hand rose shadowy buildings, domes, and minarets. A swarm of beggars went from door to door with sacks and trays collecting doles of food.