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XXVII] Cyprus called Tekye 153 The example is instructive. A Moslem creates an object of veneration and worship out of a humble unknown tomb, built up of four stones without inscription or any particular marks of distinction. He has been deceived, but is satisfied, for what are all the mysteries of his faith but so many deceits. . A certain Greek writer Constantinos (Porphyrogennetos, 7repl θεμάτων, XV.) says that Abubekr was the first Moslem who crossed over to Cyprus and made himself master of it in the reign of Heraclius, adding that his daughter died there, and that the place of her burial is still shown. In order to admit that this Tekye arose thus, and that the tomb is really that of the daughter of Abubekr, we have to face many difficulties. But we have Sheikh el Maqin and Abu'l Feda, both among the most trustworthy of Arabic writers, who tell us that the first Arab invasion of Cyprus was led by Moawiyeh (under the khalifate of Othman) who arrived with a large fleet in A.Η. 27 (A.D. 647). They would have hardly made so great an error, or have failed to tell us if Abubekr, the first Khalife, had attempted the conquest of Cyprus before Moawiyeh. But even granted that this were so, and that the daughter of Abubekr died and was buried here, the Moslem would have called her the kinswoman, not the aunt of Mohammad, for Abubekr was his father-in-law. In short, as their own tradition is but vague, and the history of their khalifate gives it no support, we may conclude that the untrustworthy story of Constantinos formed the framework of the legend which has grown round this shrine, whose fame is still daily on the increase. [See "The Story of Umm Harâm" in Turkish and English. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, January, 1897. Mariti (p. 184) forgets that C. Van Bruyn saw the tomb, and knew its attribution, in 1683. Excerpta Cypria, 240.]

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