Note 261 — Chapter XXII · ABYDUS AND CAIRO.
Reading edition
“It is said that these persons, as well as the sheik, make use of certain words (that is, repeat prayers and invocations) on the day preceding this performance, to enable them to endure without injury the tread of the horse; and that some not thus prepared, having ventured to lie down to be ridden over, have, on more than one occasion, been either killed or severely injured. The performance is considered as a miracle vouchsafed through supernatural power, and which has been granted to every successive sheik of the Saädiyeh.” See Lane’s “Modern Egyptians,” chap. xxiv, p. 453. Lond., 1860.