. Fig. 4.—stones coverixg the Of THi; SHEIKH ABDU'R-RAHi\ AT DALGA. and lying close to the edge of the desert, is an erection of stones which covers the burial place of the Sheikh Abdu'r-Rahman (Fig. 4). A domed tomb formerly stood there, but it gradually fell into disrepair and in course of time nothing was left of it. The stones are placed over the spot where the body lies, in order to prevent passers-by from treading over the dead man. These stones are visited by childless women who walk round them seven times in the belief that by so doing their barrenness will be cured
. Fig. 4.—stones coverixg the Of THi; SHEIKH ABDU'R-RAHi\ AT DALGA. and lying close to the edge of the desert, is an erection of stones which covers the burial place of the Sheikh Abdu'r-Rahman (Fig. 4). A domed tomb formerly stood there, but it gradually fell into disrepair and in course of time nothing was left of it. The stones are placed over the spot where the body lies, in order to prevent passers-by from treading over the dead man. These stones are visited by childless women who walk round them seven times in the belief that by so doing their barrenness will be cured. The water with which a corpse is to be washed is, if possible, obtained from a mosque. After the washing is completed a barren woman will " jump " over the water, step over it backwards and forwards, seven times. My informant - told me that he saw this done on one occasion, and the woman conceived a month afterwards.' In all the cases mentioned above I liave not found anything quite comparable with the belief, which many anthropologists assert is held by various primitive peoples, notably certain tribes in Australia, that the father has nothing to do with the genesis of the child ; - Hideyb 'Abd-esh-Shafy of Illahun, Fayiim. ' Cf. E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, London, 1895, PP- 266-7.
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