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Ποιηματων αϰρατης η ελευϑερια, ϰαι νομος εις, το δοξαν τω ϖοιητη. Lucian ,Quomodo Hist. scribenda.
In the continuation of the Arabesque
ornament of an Arabian tale.
The sequence which can be read into one. Two
six-syllable lines (it will perhaps be answered) compose an Alexandrine: the
truth is that the Alexandrine, when harmonious, is composed of two six-syllable
lines.
One advantage this metre assuredly possesses; the dullest reader cannot distort
it into discord: he may read it with a prose mouth, but
its flow and fall will still be perceptible. Verse is not enough favoured by
the English reader: perhaps this is owing to the obtrusiveness, the regular
Jews-harp twing-twang, of what has been foolishly called
heroic measure. I do not wish the improvisatorè tune,
but something that denotes the sense of harmony, something like the accent of
feeling; like the tone which every Poet necessarily gives to Poetry.
Job. i. 21.
La mer n'est plus qu'un cercle aux yeux des Matelots,Ou le Ciel forme un dôme appuyé sur les flots. Le Nouveau Monde . parM. Le Suire .
The magnificent like most fine buildings in
Persia
, says
Cæsar Frederick, in
A waste of ornament and labour characterises all the works of
barbarian scholars
The
The
The
The
As soon as
The
"She stared me in the face."
This line is in one of the most beautiful passages of
Old Poulter 'smare .
At length old age came on her And she grew faint and poor,Her master he fell out with herAnd turned her out of door, Saying, if thou wilt not labour, I prithee go thy way,— And never let me see thy face Until thy dying day. These words she took unkindAnd on her way she went,For to fulfill her master's will Always was her intent, The hills were very high The vallies very bare ,The summer it was hot and dry,— It starved Old Poulter 'sMare .Old Poulter he grew sorrowfulAnd said to his kinsman Will ,I'd have thee go and seek the Mare O'er valley and o'erhill ,Go, go, go, go, says Poulter ,And make haste back again, For until thou hast found the Mare In grief I shall remain.Away went Will so willingly,And all day long he sought:Till when it grew towards the night, He in his mind bethought,He would go home and rest himAnd come again to-morrow, For if he could not find theMare His heart would break with sorrow. He went a little fartherAnd turned his head aside, And just by goodman Whitfield 's gateOh there the Mare he spied.He asked her howshe did,She staredhim in the face,Then downshe laid her head again,—She was in wretched case.
Concerning the telesmes
telesmes, are certain sigilla or amuleta, made
under such and such an aspect, or configuration of the
stars and planets, with several characters accordingly
inscribed.alakakirs,
Alakakir, amongst other
significations, is the name of a precious stone; and
therefore in yacut, a ruby. I imagine it
here to signify some magical spell, which it may be was
engraven on this stone.Albut, sitting: he which looked towards it was drawn
by the statue, till he stuck to it, and could not be
separated from it, till such time as he died.I
King Saurid
Almamon the CalifAlmamon
Almamon had opened it, men
entered into it for many years, and descended by the slippery
passage which is in it; and some of them came out safe, and
others died."
The
"Whilst the King was at
In the
A great number of stringy fibres seem to stretch out from the
boughs of the Palm, on each side, which cross one another in such a
manner, that they take out from between the boughs, a sort of bark
like close net-work, and this they spin out with the hand, and with
it make cords of all sizes, which are mostly used in
Bahar-Danush
Tofet al Mujalis
This man spoke very freely to the Prince and said to him,
Las horrendas palabras parecian salir por una trompa resontane, y que los yertos labios no movian. Lupercio Leonardo .
The Trees shall give fruit and who shall gather them? The Grapes
shall ripen and who shall tread them? for all places shall be
desolate of men. Esdras
Esdras
There are Niebuhr
The Purchas
Possibly the expression to taste the bitterness of death, may refer to this.
In Rabbi Eleazar
Salsal, that
is of dry but unbaked clay; and left it forty nights, or according
to others, forty years, lying without a soul; and
These lines contain the various opinions of the
Excepting in this line I have avoided all resemblances to
Aspicit astantem projecti corporis umbram, Exanimes artus, invisaque claustra timentem Carceris antiqui, pavet ire in pectus apertum, Visceraque, et ruptas letali vulnere fibras. Ah miser, extremum cui mortis munus iniquæ Eripitur, non posse mori! miratur Erichtho Has fatis licuisse moras, irataque morti Verberat immotum vivo serpente cadaver. Protinus astrictus caluit cruor, atraque fovit Vulnera, et in venas extremaque membra cucurrit. Percussæ gelido trepidant sub pectore fibræ; Et nova desuetis subrepens vita medullis, Miscetur morti, tunc omnis palpitat artus; Tenduntur nervi; nec se tellure cadaver Paulatim per membra levat, terraque repulsum est, Erectumque simul. Distento lumina rictu Nudantur. Nondum facies viventis in illo, Jam morientis erat; remanet pallorque rigorque, Et stupet illatus mundo. Lucan.
A curious instance of French taste occurs in this part of
This was one of the superstitions of the
Some imagine that the crystal is snow turned to ice which has
been hardening thirty years, and is turned to a rock by age. Mirror of Stones
by
Camillus Leonardus
Physician of Pisaro,
dedicated to Cæsar Borgia
.
"In the cabinet of
Crystal, precious stones, every stone that has a regular
figure, and even flints in small masses and consisting of
concentric coats, whether found in the perpendicular fissures of
rocks, or elsewhere, are only exudations, or the concreting
juices of flint in large masses; they are, therefore, new and
spurious productions, the genuine
With
Bisimillah
, that is, in the name of
'Tis the custom of
They laid upon the floor of the Ambassadors room a fine silk
cloth, on which there set
There is not any thing more ordinary in
The Tamarind is equally useful and agreable, it has a pulp of a
vineous taste, of which a wholesome refreshing liquor is prepared,
its shade shelters houses from the torrid heat of the sun, and its
fine figure greatly adorns the scenery of the country.
Of pumpkins and melons several sorts grow naturally in the woods,
and serve for feeding Camels. But the proper melons are planted in
the fields, where a great variety of them is to be found, and in
such abundance, that
l'aspect imprévu de tant de Castillans, D'étonnement, d'effroi,
peint ses regards brillans; Ses mains du choix des fruits se
formant une etude, Demeurent un moment dans la même attitude.
anti-christian custom!
The effects of the Simoom are instant suffocation to every living
creature that happens to be within the sphere of its activity, and
immediate putrefaction of the carcases of the dead. The Arabians
discern its approach by an unusual redness in the air, and they say
that they feel a smell of sulphur as it passes. The only means by
which any person can preserve himself from suffering by these
noxious blasts, is by throwing himself down with his face upon the
earth, till this whirlwind of poisonous exhalations has blown over,
which always moves at a certain height in the atmosphere. Instinct
even teaches the brutes to incline their heads to the ground on
these occasions.
Semoum
or poison, and
Their heat is sometimes so excessive that it is difficult to form
any idea of its violence without having experienced it; but it may
be compared to the heat of a large oven at the moment of drawing
out the bread. When these winds begin to blow, the atmosphere
assumes an alarming aspect. The sky at other times so clear, in
this climate, becomes dark and heavy; the sun loses his splendour
and appears of a violet colour. The air is not cloudy, but grey and
thick, and is in fact filled with an extremely subtile dust, which
penetrates every where. This wind, always light and rapid, is not
at first remarkably hot, but it increases in heat in proportion as
it continues. All animated bodies soon discover it, by the change
it produces in them. The lungs which a too rarefied air no longer
expands, are contracted and become painful. Respiration is short
and difficult, the skin parched and dry, and the body consumed by
an internal heat. In vain is recourse had to large draughts of
water; nothing can restore perspiration. In vain is coolness sought
for; all bodies in which it is usual to find it, deceives the hand
that touches them.
Another quality of this wind is its extreme aridity; which is
such, that water sprinkled on the floor evaporates in a few
minutes. By this extreme dryness it withers and strips all the
plants, and by exhaling too suddenly the emanations from animal
bodies, crisps the skin, closes the pores, and causes that feverish
heat which is the invariable effect of suppressed perspiration.
From the Mirror of Stones I extract a few
specimens of the absurd ideas once prevalent respecting precious
stones.
Amethyst
drives away drunkenness; for being bound on the navel, it
restrains the vapour of the wine, and so disolves the ebriety.
Alectoria is a
stone of a christalline colour, a little darkish, somewhat
resembling limpid water; and sometimes it has veins of the
colour of flesh. Some call it Gallinaceus, from the place of its generation, the
intestines of capons, which were castrated at three years old,
and had lived seven, before which time the stone ought not to be
taken out, for the older it is, so much the better. When the
stone is become perfect in the Capon, he do'nt drink. However
tis never found bigger than a large bean. The virtue of this
stone is to render him who carries it invisible, being held in
the mouth it allays thirst, and therefore is proper for
wrestlers; makes a woman agreable to her husband; bestows honors
and preserves those already acquired; it frees such as are
bewitched; it renders a man eloquent, constant, agreable and
amiable; it helps to regain a lost Kingdom, and acquire a
foreign one.
Borax, Nos a,
Crapondinus, are names of the same
stone, which is extracted from a toad. There are two species;
that which is the best is rarely found; the other is black or
dun with a cerluean glow, having in the middle the similitude
of an eye, and must be taken out while the dead toad is yet
panting, and these are better than those which are extracted
from it after a long continuance in the ground. They have a
wonderful efficacy in poisons. For whoever has taken poison,
let him swallow this; which being down, rolls about the
bowels, and drives out every poisonous quality that is lodged
in the intestines, and then passes thro' the fundament, and
is preserved.
Corvia or Corvina, is a Stone of a reddish colour,
and accounted artificial. On the calends of April boil the eggs
taken out of a Crow's nest till they are hard: and being cold
let them be placed in the nest as they were before. When the
crow knows this, she flies a long way to find the stone, and
having found it returns to the nest, and the eggs being touched
with it, they become fresh and prolific, the Stone must
immediately be snatched out of the nest, its virtue is to
increase riches, to bestow honors, and to foretell many future
events.
Kinocetus is a
stone not wholly useless—since it will cast out Devils
Giafar, the founder of the Barmecides, being obliged to fly from
These foolish old superstitions have died away, and gems are now neither pounded as poison nor worn as antidotes. But the old absurdities respecting poisons have been renewed in our days, by Authors who have revived the calumnies alledged against the Knights-Templar, with the hope of exciting a more extensive persecution.
And
And it came to pass as they were burying a man, that behold they
spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the Kings.
I must remind my readers that an allusion to the
It happened the dead corps of a man was cast ashore at
In supernatural affairs dogs seem to possess a sedative virtue.
When peace was made, about the year 1170, between the Earls of
Hondtsdam, that is to say, a dog's sluce; Dam in Flemish
signifying a sluce, and Hondt a dog: and
therefore at this day, the said towne (which is simply called Dam) carrieth a dog in their armes and
blason.
The Vulture is very serviceable in
The
The the
fathers of the rains.
See Note 15. Book I.
Of the Palm leaves they make mattresses, baskets and brooms; and
of the branches, all sorts of cage work, square baskets for packing
that serve for many uses instead of boxes; and the ends of the
boughs that grow next to the trunk being beaten like flax, the
fibres separate, and being tied together at the narrow end, they
serve for brooms.
"We passed two of those vallies so common in
wadi
or rivers, altho' perfectly dry at other times of the year.—We now
drew nearer to the river of which a branch was dry, and having its
channel filled with reeds growing to the height of 20 feet, served
as a line of road which was agreably shaded by the reeds.
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away.
Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid:
What time they wax warm they vanish; when it is hot they are consumed out of their place.
The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing and
perish.
The simplicity, or, perhaps, more properly, the poverty, of the
lower class of the
The Shaik, says Volney, with whom I resided in the country of
Thus confined to the most absolute necessaries of life, the
which they
bury.
The chief manufacture among the of Hykes as they call woollen
blankets, and webs of goat's hair for their Tents. The Women alone
are employed in this work, as
If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door.
Then let my wife grind unto another.Job . XXXI. 9. 10.
I have often, says
The Hhymas,
from the shade they afford the inhabitants, and Beet el Shar, Houses of
hairpillar of the bed, from the
custom perhaps, that hath always prevailed, of having the upper
end of the carpet, matrass, or whatever else they lie upon,
turned from the skirts of the tent that way. But the Κωνωπειον,
Canopy as we render it (ver. 9) should I presume, be rather
called the gnat or muskeeta net, which is a close curtain of
gauze or fine linnen, used all over Hykes, and lying, as they find room upon a
mat or carpet, in the middle or corner of the tent. Those who
are married, have each of them a corner of the tent, cantoned
off with a curtain.
The tents of
In the kingdom of Sasch, but a
handkerchief instead, in which they tie the hair behind. Some let
it fall upon their shoulders and bind a small cord round their
heads instead of a turban. The
The music of the Cantatas especially, they have their preludes
and symphonies; each stanza being introduced with a flourish from
the Arabebbah, while the narration itself is accompanied with the
softest touches they are able to make, upon the Gaspah. The Tarr,
another of their instruments, is made like a Sive, consisting (as
Isidore describeth the Tympanum) of a thin rim or hoop of wood,
with a skin of parchment stretched over the top of it. This serves
for the Bass in all their Concerts, which they accordingly touch
very artfully with their fingers, and the knuckles or palms of
their hands, as the time and measure require, or as force and
softness are to be communicated to the several parts of the
performance. The Tarr is undoubtedly the Tympanum of the Antients,
which appears as well from the general use of it all over
The Cussuba, or cane, which is only a piece of large cane, or
reed, with stops, or holes, like a flute, and somewhat longer,
which they adorn with tossels of black silk and play upon like the
German flute.
The young fellows, in several towns, play prettily enough on pipes
made, and sounding very much like our flagelet, of the thigh bones
of cranes, storks, or such large fowl.
Hippophorbos, I fancy
few of them would be now much liked at our Opera. As for this tibicen, flute or pipe, it is certainly lost,
except it be the gayta, somewhat like the
hautbois, called zurna, in Turkish, a
martial instrument. Julius Pollux, in a chapter entitled de tibiarum specie, says, Hippophorbos quam quidem Libyes Scenetes invenerunt, and
again, shewing the use and quality thereof, hæc
verò apud equorum pascua utuntur, ejusque materia decorticata
laurus est, cor enim ligni extractum acutissimam dat sonum.
The sound of the gayta agrees well with this
description, tho' not the make. Several Poets mention the tibicen Libycus and Arabicus: and Alhenæus quotes Duris, and says, Libycas tibia Poetæ appellant, ut inquit Duris,
libro secundo de rebus gestis Agathoclis, quod Scirites, primus,
ut credunt, tibicinum artis inventor, è gente Nomadum Libycorum
fuerit, primusque tibiä Cerealium hymnorum cantor.
Persæ "pulcherrimâ usi translatione, pro versús
facere dicunt margaritas nectere;
quemadmodum in illo Ferdusii versiculo "Siquidem
calami acumine adamantine margaritas nexi; in scientiæ mare penitus me immersi."
Again in the same work—"he began to weigh his stored pearls in the scales of delivery."
Abu Temam, who was an excellent poet himself, used to say, that,
"fine sentiments delivered in prose were like gems scattered at
random; but that when they were confined in a poetical measure,
they resembled bracelets and strings of pearls."
In
They are a row of Pearls, and I The silken thread on which they lie.
I quote from memory, and recollect not the Author's name. It is
somewhat remarkable that the same metaphor is among the
quaintnesses of "Benevolence is the silken thread, that should run
thro' the pearl chain of our virtues."
It seems the
All their literature consists in reciting tales and histories, in
the manner of Once upon a
time,—and continues to recite the adventures of some young
Shaik and female young filley, nor her
eye-lashes blackened with kohl, nor her lips
painted blue, nor her nails, tinged with the golden coloured henna, nor her breasts, resembling two
pomegranates, nor her words, sweet as honey. He recounts the
sufferings of the young lover, so wasted with
desire and passion, that his body no longer yields any
shadow. At length, after detailing his various attempts to
see his mistress, the obstacles on the part of the parents, the
invasions of the enemy, the captivity of the two lovers, &c. he
terminates, to the satisfaction of the audience, by restoring them,
united and happy, to ma sha allah
admirably well!
We read in
This is said to emblem the perpetual attention of the Creator to
the
"She had laid aside the rings which used to grace her ankles, lest
the sound of them should expose her to calamity."
"In that day their tinkling ornaments about their
feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the
moon."
"The chains, and the bracelets and the mufflers, The bonnets, and
the ornaments of the legs, &c."
His fingers, in beauty and slenderness appearing as the Yed Bieza,
She dispenses gifts with small delicate fingers, sweetly glowing
at their tips, like the white and crimson worm of
The Hinna, says
This unnatural fashion is extended to animals.
Departing from the
In
Alfenado, a word derived from alfena the
Portugueze or Moorish name of this plant, is still used in
The blackened eye-lids and the reddened fingers were
The large locusts, which are near three inches long, are not the
most destructive; as they fly, they yield to the current of the
wind which hurries them into the sea, or into
In
It has been remarked, in speaking of the climate of
This was the means by which the gardens and vineyards of
The lands, ravaged throughout all the western provinces, produced
no harvest, and the
In
Vast numbers perished of indigestible food and want. I have beheld
country people in the roads, and in the streets, who had died of
hunger, and who were thrown across asses to be taken and buried.
Fathers sold their children. The husband, with the consent of his
wife, would take her into another province, there to bestow her in
marriage as if she were his sister, and afterwards come and reclaim
her when his wants were no longer so great. I have seen women and
children run after camels, and rake in their dung to seek for some
indigested grain of barley, which, if they found, they devoured
with avidity.
The Abmelec or eater of Locusts, or grasshoppers, is a bird which
better deserves to be described, perhaps, than most others of which
travellers have given us an account, because the facts relating to
it are not only strange, in themselves, but so well and distinctly
attested, that however surprising they may seem, we cannot but
afford them our belief. The food of this creature is the locust, or
the grasshopper: it is of the size of an ordinary hen, its feathers
black, its wings large, and its flesh of a greyish colour; they fly
generally in great flocks, as the starlings are wont to do with us:
but the thing which renders these birds wonderful is, that they are
so fond of the water of a certain fountain in
On the confines of the
At Samarmar, or as others pronounce it, Samarmog. It is said to be black, larger than
a sparrow, and no ways pleasant to the palate. I am assured that it
every day destroys an incredible number of Locusts; they pretend
nevertheless that the Locusts sometimes defend themselves, and
devour the Bird with its feathers, when they have overpowered it by
numbers. When the children in the frontier towns of
Samarmog! And because it
stoops down terrified at the noise, or at the motion of the child,
or clings more closely to its place, the children believe that it
fears the name of its enemy, that it hides itself, and attempts to
throw stones. The Samarmog is not a native
of Samarûn
Mesched
Musa er ridda
Nebbi Gurgis, a building which was formerly a church,
and which in preference to all the other buildings has had from
time immemorial the honour to possess this chest upon its
roofSamarmog follows the water, and remains in the country as
long as there is a single drop left in the chest of Nebbi-Gurgis. Seeing one day a large stork's
nest upon this vessel, I told a Christian of some eminence in the
town, how much I admired the quick smell of the Samarmog, who perceived the smell of the water thro' such
a quantity of ordure, he did not answer me, but was very much
scandalized that the government should have permitted the stork to
make her nest upon so rare a treasure, and still more angry, that
for more than nine years, the government had not sent to procure
fresh water.
The Locusts are remarkable for the hieroglyphic that they bear
upon the forehead, their colour is green throughout the whole body,
excepting a little yellow rim that surrounds their head, which is
lost at their eyes. This insect has two upper wings pretty solid:
they are green like the rest of the body, except that there is in
each a little white spot. The Locust keeps them extended like great
sails of a ship going before the wind, it has besides two other
wings underneath the former, and which resemble a light transparent
stuff pretty much like a cobweb, and which it makes use of in the
manner of smack sails that are along a vessel; but when the Locust
reposes herself she does like a vessel that lies at anchor, for she
keeps the second sails furled under the first.
The
I compared the description in the Poem with a Locust, which was
caught in
An
The Mussulmans are immutably prepossessed, that as the
The story of
The
Abdulkadir Cheilani of Ibn Alwan who
resided in the south of
There are some
One of the Arabs whom we saw from afar, and who was mounted upon a
Camel, seemed higher than a tower and to be moving in the air, at
first this was to me a strange appearance, however it was only the
effect of refraction. The Camel which the Arab was upon touched the
ground like all others. There was nothing then extraordinary in
this phenomenon, and I afterwards saw many appearances exactly
similar in the dry Countries.
"They surprized you, not indeed by a sudden assault; but they
advanced, and the sultry vapour of noon thro' which you saw them,
increased their magnitude."
One of these Hykes is usually six yards
long and 5 or 6 foot broad, serving the Arab for a compleat dress
in the day, and for his bed and covering in the night. It is a
loose but troublesome kind of garment, being frequently
disconcerted and falling upon the ground, so that the person who
wears it, is every moment obliged to tuck it up, and fold it anew
about his body. This shews the great use there is for a girdle in
attending any active employment, and in consequence thereof, the
force of the scripture injunction alluding thereunto, of having our loyns girded. The method of
wearing these garments, with the use they are at other times put
to, in serving for coverlets to their beds, should induce us to
take the finer sort of them at least, such as are wore by the
Ladies and persons of distinction, to be the peplus of the antients. It is very probable likewise, that
the loose folding garment, (the Toga I take
it to be) of the Romans, was of this kind: for if the drapery of
their statues is to instruct us, this is actually no other than
what the Arabs appear in, when they are folded up in their Hykes. Instead of the fibula, they join together, with thread or a wooden
bodkin, the two upper corners of this garment, which being first
placed over one of their shoulders, they fold the rest of it
afterwards round their bodies.
The employment of the women is to prepare their wool, spin, and
weave in looms hung lengthways in their tents. These looms are
formed by a list of an ell and a half long, to which the threads of
the warp are fixed at one end, and at the other on a roller of
equal length; the weight of which, being suspended, keeps them
stretched. The threads of the warp are so hung as to be readily
intersected. Instead of shuttles, the women pass the thread of the
woof thro' the warp with their fingers, and with an iron comb,
having a handle, press the woof to give a body to their cloth. Each
piece of about 5 ells long, and an ell and a half wide, is called a
haick; it receives neither dressing,
milling nor dying, but is immediately fit for use: it is the
constant dress of the haick is the living
model of the drapery of the ancients.
If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the Sun goeth down.
For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin:
wherein shall he sleep?
Fear the fire whose fuel is men, and stones prepared for the
unbelievers.
Verily those who disbelieve our signs,
Acho que foy maior portento este que o
da nuvem, com que deos defendes no deserto a seu Povo minoso do
calor do sol, tanto quanto mais tem de gracioso & aprasivel
este chapeo de sol, que aquelle.
This was a common miracle of
Hesperii peterent cum barbara littora mystæ, Et sociis æger pluribus unus erat, Ille suum extincto, Phœbi quia lampadis æstu Occultoque uri, questus ab igne caput Quæsiit in prora, si quam daiet angulus umbram, Nulla sed in proræ partibus umbra fuit. Quæsiit in puppi, nihil umbræ puppis habebat, Summa sed urebant solis, & ima faces. His cupiens Anchieta malis succurrere, solam Aera per medium tendere vidit avem. Vidit, ei socias, ait, i, quære cohortes Aliger atque redux cum legione veni. Dicta probavit avis, celerique citatior Euro, Cognatum properat, quærere jussa gregem. Milleque mox sociis comitata revertitur alis, Mille sequi visæ, mille præire ducem. Mille supra, & totidem, juxtaque, infraque volabant, Omnis ad Anchietæ turba vocata preces. Et simul expansis facta testudine pennis, Desuper in tostas incubuere rates. Et procul inde diem, & lucem pepulere diei, Debile dum molis conderet umbra caput. Scilicet hæc fierent, ut canopea repente Anchieta artifices, esse coegit aves.Vida do Veneravel Padre Joseph de Anchieta, da companhia de Jesu, Taumaturgo do Novo Mundo, na Provincia do Brasil. composta pello P. Simam de Vasconcellos, da mesma companhia. Lisboa .1672 .
In a very old book, the Margarita
Philosophica
elegant a taste
as that of the wonder worker
The most quaint account of
In places where there was water we found a beautiful variety of
the plover.
The Camels of the hot countries are not fastened one to the tail
of the other as in cold climates, but suffered to go at their will
like herds of cows. The Camel driver follows singing, and from time
to time giving a sudden whistle. The louder he sings and whistles,
the faster the Camels go, and they stop as soon as he ceases to
sing. The Camel-drivers to relieve each other sing alternately, and
when they wish their beasts to brouze for half an hour on what they
can find, they amuse themselves by smoking a pipe, after which
beginning again to sing, the Camels immediately proceed.
At four in the afternoon we had an unexpected entertainment, which
filled our hearts with a very short-lived joy. The whole plain
before us seemed thick covered with green grass and yellow daisies.
We advanced to the place with as much speed as our lame condition
would suffer us, but how terrible was our disapointment, when we
found the whole of that verdure to consist in senna and
coloquintida, the most nauseous of plants, and the most incapable
of being substituted as food for man or beast.
The girdles of these people are usually of worsted, very artfully
woven into a variety of figures, and made to wrap several times
about their bodies, one end of them, by being doubled and sown
along the edges, serves them for a purse, agreable to the
acceptation of the word Ζωνη in the Holy Scriptures, the Turks and
Arabs make a further use ot their girdles by fixing their knives
and poiniards in them; whilst the Hojias, i. e. the writers and
secretaries, are distinguished by having an inkhorn, the badge of
their office, suspended in the like situation.
On the road we passed the skeleton of a camel, which now and then
happens in
In the
The African Arabs say, if one should put the question which is best for you, a Camel, to go up hill or
down? he will make answer, God's curse
light on 'em both, wheresoever they are to be met with.
No creature seems so peculiarly fitted to the climate in which it
exists. We cannot doubt the nature of the one has been adapted to
that of the other by some disposing
intelligence. Designing the Camel to dwell in a country
where he can find little nourishment,
Where any part of these
In the Bahar Danush is a metaphor drawn from this optical deception. "It is the ancient custom of Fortune, and time has long established the habit, that she at first bewilders the thirsty travellers in the path of desire, by the misty vapour of disappointment; but when their distress and misery has reached extremity, suddenly relieving them from the dark windings of confusion and error, she conducts them to the fountains of enjoyment."
"The burning heat of the sun was reflected with double violence
from the hot sand, and the distant ridges of the hills, seen thro'
the ascending vapour, seemed to wave and fluctuate like the
unsettled sea."
"I shake the lash over my Camel, and she quickens her pace, while
the sultry vapour rolls in waves over the burning cliffs."
Perhaps no traveller but
"I pushed on as fast as possible, in hopes of reaching some watering-place in the course of the night. My thirst was by this time become insufferable; my mouth was parched and inflamed; a sudden dimness would frequently come over my eyes, with other symptoms of fainting; and my horse being very much fatigued, I began seriously to apprehend that I should perish of thirst. To relieve the burning pain in my mouth and throat, I chewed the leaves of different shrubs, but found them all bitter and of no service to me.
A little before sunset, having reached the top of a gentle rising, I climbed a high tree, from the topmost branches of which I cast a melancholy look over the barren wilderness, but without discovering the most distant trace of a human dwelling. The same dismal uniformity of shrubs and sand every where presents itself, and the horizon, was as level and uninterrupted as that of the sea.
Descending from the tree, I found my horse devouring the stubble
and brushwood with great avidity; and as I was now too faint to
attempt walking, and my horse too much fatigued to carry me, I
thought it but an act of humanity, and perhaps the last I should
ever have it in my power to perform, to take off his bridle and let
him shift for himself: in doing which I was suddenly affected with
sickness and giddiness, and falling upon the sand, felt as if the
hour of death was fast approaching. Here then, thought I, after a
short but ineffectual struggle, terminate all my hopes of being
useful in my day and generation; here must the short span of my
life come to an end.—I cast (as I believed) a last look on the
surrounding scene, and whilst I reflected on the awful change that
was about to take place,
All the time I was in
I happened to be, once in particular, at the Tent of that
Princess, with Ali ben Mahamoud, the Bey, or Vice-Roy of the
Algerine Eastern Province, when he went thither to celebrate his
Nuptials with Ambarca, her only Daughter, if I mistake not. Among
other Entertainments she gave her Guests, the favourite white
Dromedary was brought forth, ready Saddled and Bridled. I say
Bridled, because the Thong, which serves instead of a Bridle, was
put thro' the Hole purposely made in the Gristle of the Creature's
Nose. The Arab appointed to mount, was straightly laced, from the
very Loins quite to his Throat, in a strong Leathern Jacket; they
never riding these Animals any otherwise accoutred, so impetuously
violent are the Concussions the Rider undergoes, during that rapid
Motion, that were he to be loose. I much question whether a few
Hours such unintermitting Agitation would not endanger the bursting
of some of his Entrails: And this the Arabs scruple not to
acknowledge. We were to be diverted with seeing this fine Ashari
run against some of the swiftest Barbs in the whole Neja, which is
famed for having good ones, of the true Libyan Breed, shaped like
Greyhounds, and which will sometimes run down an Ostridge; which
few of the very best can pretend to do, especially upon a hard
Ground, perfectly level. We all started like Racers, and for the
first Spurt, most of the best mounted among us kept up pretty well,
but our Grass fed Horses soon flagged: Several of the Libyan and
Numidian Runners held Pace till we, who still followed upon a good
round Hand Gallop, could no longer discern them, and then gave out;
as we were told after their Return. When the Dromedary had been out
of our Sight about half an Hour, we again espied it flying towards
us with an amazing Volocity, and in a very few Moments was among
us, and seemingly nothing concerned; while the Horses and Mares
were all on a Foam, and scarce able to breathe, as was, likewise, a
fleet, tall Greyhound Bitch, of the young Prince's, who had
followed and kept Pace the whole Time, and was no sooner got back
to us, but lay down panting as if ready to expire. I cannot tell
how many Miles we went; but we were near three Hours in coming
leisurely back to the Tents, yet made no Stop in the Way. The young
Prince Hamet ben al Guydom ben Sakhari, and his younger Brother
Messoud, told their new Brother-in-Law, that they defied all the
Potentates of
Chenier says "the Dromedary can travel 60 leagues in a day, his motion is so rapid that the rider is obliged to be girthed to the saddle, and to have a handkerchief before his mouth to break the current of the wind."—These accounts are probably much exaggerated.
"The royal couriers in Persia wear a white sash girded from the
shoulders to their waist many times round their bodies, by which
means they are enabled to ride for many days without great
fatigue."
We were here at once surprised and terrified by a sight surely the
most magnificent in
On the 15th the same appearance of moving pillars of sand
presented themselves to us, only they seemed to be more in number,
and less in size. They came several times in a direction close upon
us; that is, I believe, within less than two miles. They began
immediately after sun-rise, like a thick wood, and almost darkened
the sun. His rays shining through them for near an hour, gave them
an appearance of pillars of fire. Our people now became desperate:
the Greeks shrieked out, and said it was the day of judgement.
Ismael pronounced it to be
The Pelican makes choice of
These prominent features of
The circuit of
Of
Enraged at this insolence
At
At
On the other side of the river towards
Here are great store of victuals which come from
In
At
At
The cranes were now arrived at their respective quarters, and a
couple had made their nest, which is bigger in circumference than a
bushel, on a dome close by our chamber. This pair stood, side by
side, with great gravity, shewing no concern at what was
transacting beneath them, but at intervals twisting about their
long necks, and cluttering with their beaks, turned behind them
upon their backs, as it were in concert. This was continued the
whole night. An Owl, a bird also unmolested, was perched hard by,
and as frequently hooted. The crane is tall, like a heron, but much
larger; the body white, with black pinions, the neck and legs very
long, the head small, and the bill thick.
I will rise up against them, saith the
—— Walls , withinWhose large inclosure the rude hind, or guidesHis plough, or binds his sheaves , while shepherds guardTheir flocks, secure of ill: on the broad top Six chariots rattle in extended front.Each side in length, in height, in solid bulk, Reflects its opposite a perfect square; Scarce sixty thousand paces can mete out The vast circumference. An hundred gates Of polished brass lead to that central point Where thro' the midst, bridged o'er with wondrous art Euphrates leads a navigable stream,Branch'd from the current of his roaring flood. Roberts 's. Judah Restored
Within the walls Of Babylon was rais'd a lofty moundWhere flowers and aromatic shrubs adorn'd The pensile garden. For , Nebassar 's queenFatigued with Babylonia's level plains, Sigh'd for her Media n home, wherenature 's handHad scoop'd the vale , and cloath'd themountain 's sideWith many a verdant wood ; nor long she pin'dTill that uxorious monarch called on art To rival nature's sweet variety. Forthwith two hundred thousand slaves uprear'dThis hill , egregious work; rich fruits o'er hangThe sloping walks and odorous shrubs entwine Their undulating branches. Roberts 's. Judah Restored
Our early Travellers have given us strange and circumstantial
accounts of what they conceive to have been the
This Tower in effect is contrary to all other things which are
seene afar off, for they seeme small and the more nere a man
commeth to them the bigger they be: but this tower afar off seemeth
a very great thing, and the nerer you come to it the lesser. My
judgement and reason of this is, that because the Tower is set in a
very great plaine, and hath nothing more about to make any shew
saving the ruines of it which it hath made round about, and for
this respect descrying it afarre off, that piece of the Tower which
yet standeth with the mountaine that is made of the substance that
hath fallen from it, maketh a greater shew than you shall finde
comming neere to it.
"Being upon a plaine grounde it seemeth afarre off very
great, but the nerer you come to it, the lesser and lesser it
appeareth. Sundry times I have gone thither to see it, and found
the remnants yet standing about a quarter of a mile in compasse,
and almost as high as the stone worke of
In the middle of a vast and level plain, about a quarter of a
league from
Withinside one finds some grottos, but so ruined that one can make
nothing of them, whether they were built at the same time with that
work, or made since by the peasants for shelter, which last seems
to be the most likely. The
I make no doubt but this ruin was the ancient Babel, and the tower of
Nimrod ; for besides the evidence of its situation, it is acknowledged to be such by the people of the country, being vulgarly called Babil bythe Arabs .Pietro delle Valle .Universal Hist.
Eight towers arise, Each above each, immeasurable height, A monument at once of eastern pride And slavish superstition. Round, a scale Of circling steps entwines the conic pile; And at the bottom on vast hinges grates Four brazen gates, towards the four winds of heaven Placed in the solid square. Roberts 'sJudah Restored .
And
It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from
generation to generation; neither shall the
The stupid superstition of the Turks with regard to hidden treasures is well known, it is difficult or even dangerous for a traveller to copy an inscription in sight of those barbarians.
"On a rising ground, at a league's distance from the
river Shelliff , is, as they call an old square tower, formerly a sepulchral monument of the Romans. This, like many more ancient edifices, is supposed by the Arabs, to have been built over a treasure. Agreeably to which account, they tell us, these mystical lines were inscribed upon it. PrinceMemoun-turroy Maimoun Tizaiwrote this upon his tower.My Treasure is in my Shade, And my Shade is in my Treasure. Search for it; despair not: Nay despair; do not search. Shaw .So of the ruines of ancient
Tubuna .The Treasure of Tubnah lyeth under the shade of what is shaded. Dig for it? alas! it is not there.
. Shaw
The springs of bitumen called Oyun Hit, the
Hit, Heit, Eit, Ai t, or Idt, as it is variously written by
travellers, is a great Turkish town situate
upon the right or west side of the
Euphrates
; and has a castle; to
the south-west of which and three miles from the town, in a valley,
are many springs of this black substance; each of which makes a
noise like a smith's forge, incessantly puffing and blowing out the
matter so loud, that it may be heard a mile off: wherefore the
The Mussulmanns use, like the Roman Catholics, a rosary of beads
called Tusbah, or implement of praise. It consists, if I recollect
aright, of ninty nine beads; in dropping which through the fingers,
they repeat the attributes of God, as "O Creator, O Merciful, O
Forgiving, O Omnipotent, O Omniscient, &c. &c." This act of
devotion is called Taleel, from the repetition of the letter L, or
Laum, which occurs in the word
The ninty nine beads of the Mohammedan rosary are divided into
three equal lengths, by a little string, at the end of which hang a
long piece of coral and a large bead of the same. The more devout,
or hypocritical Turks, like the Catholics have usually their bead
string in their hands.
"The Mahummedans believe that the decreed events of every man's
life are impressed in divine characters on his forehead, tho' not
to be seen by mortal eye. Hence they use the word Nusseeb, anglicé
stamped, for destiny. Most probably the idea was taken up by
Mahummud from the sealing of the Elect, mentioned in the
Revelations."
"The scribe of decree chose to ornament the edicts on my forehead
with these flourishes of disgrace."
The traérlo
escrito en la frente, to have it written on the forehead,
is perhaps of
Zohak was the fifth King of the Pischdadian dynasty, lineally
descended from Shedâd who perished with the tribe of Ad. Zohak
murdered his predecessor, and invented the punishments of the
cross, and of fleaing alive. The Devil who had long served him,
requested at last as a recompence, permission to kiss his
shoulders, immediately two serpents grew there, who fed upon his
flesh and endeavoured to get at his brain. The Devil now suggested
a remedy, which was to quiet them by giving them every day the
brains of two men, killed for that purpose: this tyranny lasted
long, till a blacksmith of
"I shall transcribe a foreign piece of Superstition, firmly
believed in many parts of
Of the Hand of Glory, which is made use of by
housebreakers, to enter into houses at night, without fear of
opposition.
I acknowledge that I never tried the secret of the Hand of Glory, but I have thrice assisted at the definitive judgment of certain criminals, who, under the torture, confessed having used it. Being asked what it was, how they procured it, and what were its uses and properties? they answered, first, that the use of the Hand of Glory was to stupify those to whom it was presented, and to render them motionless, insomuch that they could not stir, any more than if they were dead; secondly, that it was the hand of a hanged man; and thirdly, that it must be prepared in the manner following.
Take the hand, left or right, of a person hanged and exposed on
the highway; wrap it up in a piece of a shroud or winding sheet, in
which let it be well squeezed, to get out any small quantity of
blood that may have remained in it; then put it into an earthen
vessel with Zimat saltpetre, salt, and long pepper, the whole well
powdered; leave it fifteen days in that vessel; afterwards take it
out, and expose it to the noontide sun in the dog days, till it is
thoroughly dry, and if the Sun is not sufficient, put it into an
oven heated with fern and vervain. Then compose a kind of candle
with the fat of a hanged man, virgin wax, and sisame of Lapland.
The Hand of Glory is used as a candlestick to hold this candle,
when lighted. Its properties are, that wheresoever any one goes
with this dreadful instrument, the persons to whom it is presented
will be deprived of all power of motion. On being asked if there
was no remedy or antidote, to counteract this charm, they said the
Hand of Glory would cease to take effect, and thieves could not
make use of it, if the threshold of the door of the house, and
other places by which they might enter, were anointed with an
unguent composed of the gall of a black cat, the fat of a white
hen, and the blood of a screech owl, which mixture must necessarily
be prepared during the dog days.
The habitations of the Saints are always beside the sanctuary, or
tomb, of their ancestors, which they take care to adorn. Some of
them possess, close to their houses, gardens, trees, or cultivated
grounds, and particularly some spring or well of water. I was once
travelling in the south in the beginning of October, when the
season happened to be exceedingly hot, and the wells and rivulets
of the country were all dried up. We had neither water, for
ourselves, nor for our horses; and after having taken much
fruitless trouble to obtain some, we went and paid homage to a
Saint, who at first pretended a variety of scruples before he would
suffer infidels to approach; but on promising to give him ten or 12
shillings, he became exceedingly humane, and supplied us with as
much water as we wanted; still however vaunting highly of his
charity, and particularly of his disinterestedness.
No nation in
The hand-spell is still common in figa, and thus probably our
vulgar phrase "a fig for him" is derived
from a Moorish amulet.
In the Vision of Thurcillus Adam is described as beholding the
events of Matthew Paris.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
The Kadischi whose descent is unknown, and the
Kochlani, of whom a written genealogy has
been kept for 2000 years. These last are reserved for riding
solely, they are highly esteemed and consequently very dear, they
are said to derive their origin from King Solomon's studs, however
this may be they are fit to bear the greatest fatigues, and can
pass whole days without food, they are also said to show uncommon
courage against an enemy, it is even asserted, that when a horse of
this race finds himself wounded and unable to bear his rider much
longer, he retires from the fray and conveys him to a place of
security. If the rider falls upon the ground his horse remains
beside him, and neighs till assistance is brought: the Kochlani are neither large nor handsome but
amazingly swift, the whole race is divided into several families,
each of which has its proper name. Some of these have a higher
reputation than others, on account of their more ancient and
uncontaminated nobility.
In travelling by night thro' the vallies of
The Hammam Meskouteen, the Silent or
Inchanted Baths, are situated on a low ground, surrounded with
mountains. There are several fountains that furnish the water,
which is of an intense heat, and falls afterwards into the Ze-nati.
At a small distance from these hot fountains, we have others, which
upon comparison are of as an intense a coldness; and a little below
them, somewhat nearer the banks of the Ze-nati, there are the ruins
of a few houses, built perhaps for the conveniency of such persons,
who came hither for the benefit of the waters.
Besides the strong sulphureous steams of the Hammam
Thermæ of this country
Hammams, from whence our Hummums.
This place, in riding over it, giveth back such a hollow sound,
that we were afraid every moment of sinking thro' it. It is
probable therefore that the ground below us was hollow: and may not
the air then, which is pent up within these caverns, afford, as we
may suppose, in escaping continually thro' these fountains, that
mixture of shrill, murmuring and deep sounds, which, according to
the direction of the winds and the motion of the external air,
issue out along with the water? the Arabs, to quote their strength
of imagination once more, affirm these sounds to be the music of
the Jenoune, Fairies, who are supposed, in a
particular manner, to make their abodes at this place, and to be
the grand agents in all these extraordinary appearances.
There are other natural curiosities likewise at this place. For
the chalky stone being dissolved into a fine impalpable powder and
carried down afterwards with the stream, lodgeth itself upon the
sides of the channel, nay sometimes upon the lips of the fountains
themselves; or else embracing twigs, straws and other bodies in its
way, immediately hardeneth and shoots into a bright fibrous
substance, like the Asbestos, forming itself at the same time, into
a variety of glittering figures and beautiful christalizations.
In the place where the Whang-ho rises, there are more than an
hundred springs which sparkle like stars, whence it is called
Among Beni Abbess
Welled Mansoure, we pass
thro' a narrow winding defile, which, for the space of near half a
mile, lyeth on each side under an exceeding high precipice, at
every winding, the Rock or Stratum, that originally went across it
and thereby separated one valley from another, is cut into the
fashion of a door case six or seven feet wide, giving thereby the
Arabs an occasion to call them Beeban, the
Gates; whilst the Turks in consideration of their strength and
ruggedness, know them by the additional appellation of Dammer Cappy, the Gates of Iron. Few persons
pass them without horror, a handful of men being able to dispute
the passage with a whole Army. The rivulet of salt water which
glides thro' this valley, might possibly first point out the way
which art and necessity would afterwards improve.
In
The
"We pitched our tents among some little hills where there was a
prodigious number of lillies of many colours, with which the ground
was quite covered. None were white, they were mostly either of a
rich violet with a red spot in the midst of each leaf, or of a fine
black and these were the most esteemed. In form they were like our
lillies, but much larger."
This was an expression of Ariosto in one of his smaller poems, I believe in a Madrigal. I cannot now quote the line.
The Thracians say that the nightingales which build their nests
about
Gongora has addressed this Bird with somewhat more than his usual extravagance of absurdity,
Con diferencia tal, con gracia tanta Aquel Ruiseñor llora, que sospecho, Que tiene otros cien mil dentro del pecho, Que alternan su dolor por su garganta. With such a grace that Nightingale bewails That I suspect, so exquisite his note, An hundred thousand other Nightingales Within him, warble sorrow thro' his throat.
In the Caherman Nameh, the Dives having
taken in war some of the Peris, imprisoned them in iron cages,
which they hung from the highest trees they could find. There from
time to time their companions visited them, with the most precious
odours. These odours were the usual food of the Peris, and procured
them also another advantage, for they prevented the Dives from
approaching or molesting them. The Dives could not bear the
perfumes, which rendered them gloomy and melancholy whenever they
drew near the cage in which a Peri was suspended.
Nuptials of Mohammed and Cadijah.—Dum autem ad nuptias celebrandas
solemnissimum convivium pararetur, concussus est Angelis
admirantibus, thronus Dei: atque ipse Deus majestate plenus
præcepit Custodi Paradisi, ut puellas, & pueros ejus cum
festivis ornamentis educeret, & calices ad bibendum ordinatim
disponeret: grandiores item puellas, & jam sororiantibus mammis
præditas, & juvenes illis coævos, pretiosis vestibus indueret.
Jussit prœterea Gabrielem vexillum laudis supra Meccanum Templum
explicare. Tunc vero valles omnes & montes prœ lœtitiâ gestire
cæperunt, & tota
Sclymus 2. received the Embassadors sitting upon a pallat which
the Mastabe used by them in their
chambers to sleep and to feed upon, covered with carpets of silk,
as was the whole floor of the chamber also.
Teftich; made of the finest lawn, and so large that seven
men could scarcely carry one of them.
In the beautiful story of Ali Beg it is said Cha Sefi when he
examined the house of his father's favourite was much surprized at
seeing it so badly furnished with plain skins and coarse carpets,
whereas the other Nobles in their houses trod only upon carpets of
silk and gold.
On the way from
In she could see every thing thro' it,
unseen herself.
Master George Turbervile in his letters form Muscovy 1568,
describes
They have no English glasse; of slices of a rockeHight Sluda they their windows make, that English glasse doth mocke. They cut it very thinne, and sow it with a thred In pretie order like to panes, to serve their present need. No other glasse, good faith, doth give a better light, And sure the rock is nothing rich, the cost is very slight. Hakluyt .
The Indians of
The King and the great Lords have a sort of cellar for
magnificence, where they sometimes drink with persons whom they
wish to regale. These cellars are square rooms, to which you
descend by only two or three steps. In the middle is a small
cistern of water, and a rich carpet covers the ground from the
walls to the cistern. At the four corners of the cistern are four
large glass bottles, each containing about twenty quarts of wine,
one white, another red. From one to the other of these, smaller
bottles are ranged of the same material and form, that is, round
with a long neck, holding about four or five quarts, white and red
alternately. Round the cellar are several rows of niches in the
wall, and in each nich is a bottle also of red and white
alternately.—Some niches are made to hold two. Some windows give
light to the apartment, and all these bottles so well ranged with
their various colours have a very fine effect to the eye. They are
always kept full, the wine preserving better, and therefore are
replenished as fast as they are emptied.
The Cuptzi, or King of
The Persians having left us, the Ambassadors sent to the Chief
Weywode a present, which was a large drinking cup, vermilion-gilt.
At
The
Mohammedes vinum appellabat Matrem
peccatorum; cui sententiæ Hafez, Anacreon ille Persarum,
minime ascribit suam; dicit autem
"Acre illud (vinum) quod vir religiosus matrem peccatorumvocitat,Optabilius nobis ac dulcius videtur, quam virginis suavium." Poeseos Asiat. Com.
Illide ignem illum nobis liquidum, Hoc est, ignem illum aquæ similem affer. Hafez .
They export from
In Scio mastic in their cups, the penetrating
odour of which pervades the porous substance, which remains
impregnated with it a long time, and imparts to the water a perfume
which requires the aid of habit to render it pleasing.
Shahoni, or the royal grape, being of a gold colour,
transparent, and as big as a small olive. These grapes are dried
and transported all over the kingdom. They also make the strongest
wine in
Dr. Fryer received a present from the Caun of
When Tavernier made his first visit to the Kan at Chambers of the Bridge. They had wine which they cooled
with ice, and all kinds of fruit and melons in large plates, under
each of which was a plate of ice.
A great number of camels were laden with snow to cool the liquors
and fruit of the Caliph Mahadi, when he made the pilgrimage to
Of the Indian dancing women who danced before the Ambassadors at
At
At
I came to a Village called
Over
The most magnificent of these bridges is the Bridge of Zulpha at
The dust which overspreads these beds of sand is so fine, that the
lightest animal, the smallest insect, leaves there as on snow, the
vestiges of its track. The varieties of these impressions produce a
pleasing effect, in spots where the saddened soul expects to meet
with nothing but symptoms of the proscriptions of nature. It is impossible to see any thing more
beautiful than the traces of the passage of a species of
very small lizards extremely common in these desarts. The extremity
of their tail forms regular sinuosities, in the middle of two rows
of delineations, also regularly imprinted by their four feet, with
their five slender toes. These traces are multiplied and interwoven
near the subterranean retreats of these little animals, and present
a singular assemblage which is not void of
beauty.
These lines are feebly adapted from a passage in
Hæc autem dicta vellem de genuinis & majoribus terræ montibus;
non gratos Bacchi colles hîc intelligimus,
aut amœnos illos monticulos, qui viridi herbâ & vicino fonte
& arboribus, vim æstivi solis repellunt: hisce non deest sua
qualiscunque elegantia, & jucunditas. Sed longe aliud hic
respicimus, nempe longæva illa, tristia & squalentia corpora,
telluris pondera, quæ duro capiti rigent inter nubes, infixisque in
terram saxeis pedibus, ab innumeris seculis steterunt immobilia,
atque nudo pectore pertulerunt tot annorum ardentes soles, fulmina
& procellas. Hi sunt primævi & immortales illi montes, qui
non aliunde, quam ex fractâ mundi compage ortum suum ducere
potuerunt, nec nisi cum eâdem perituri sunt.
The whole chapter de montibus is written
with the eloquence of a Poet. Indeed Gibbon bestowed no exaggerated
praise on Burnet in saying that he had "blended scripture, history,
and tradition into one magnificent system, with a sublimity of
imagination scarcely inferior to Milton himself." This work should
be read in Latin, the Author's own translation is miserably
inferior. He lived in the worst age of English prose.
The Zaccoum is a tree which issueth from the bottom of
This hellish Zaccoum has its name from a thorny tree in Tehâma,
which bears fruit like an almond, but extremely bitter; therefore
the same name is given to the infernal tree.
When the sister of the famous Derar was made prisoner before
In the N. E. parts of
In another place
The story is told by so many writers and with such difference of time and place, as wholly to invalidate its truth, even were the circumstances more probable.
The most particular account is given by that undaunted liar
"Beside the Dabo vobis terram fluentem lacte
& melle. And thanne wolde he maken hem to drynken of
certeyn drynk, whereof anon thei sholden be dronken, and thanne
wolde hem thinken gretter delyt than thei hadden before. And then
wolde he seye to hem that zif thei wolde dyen for him and for his
love, that after hire dethe thei scholde come to his Paradys, and
their scholde ben of the age of the Damyseles, and thei scholde
pleyen with hem and zit ben Maydenes. And after that zit scholde he
putten hem in a fayrere Paradys, where that thei scholde see
Let the royal apparel be brought which the King useth to wear, and the horse that the King rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head:
And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of
the King's most noble princes, that they may array the man withal
whom the King delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback
thro' the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall
it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour.
As
Medina
, did not perform always the five canonical prayers at the
precise time,
Most high God! most high God!
most high God! I acknowledge that there is no other except
God; I acknowledge that there is no other except God! I
acknowledge that
Muezzinn
come to the temple of salvation, the following: prayer is to be preferred to sleep, prayer
is to be preferred to sleep.
Bilal Habeschy
: as he announced one day the
Muezzinn
Ezann he must stand, with a finger in each ear, and
his face turned, as in prayer, towards the Keabe of
Mecca
. As he utters these
words, come to prayer, come to
In
his dwelling among the tombs
garnishing of the sepulchres, and again where he
compares the whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of
dead men's bones and all uncleanness. For the space of
two or three months after any person is interred,
About a quarter of a mile from the town of
Distœya or Double-roofed. It
consisted of two square rooms. In the lower, which has a door
way, were deposited the urns with the ashes of the deceased. In
the upper,
Αλλ’ αντι ϰεδρȣ περιϐολων τελαινων Εν τηδε θαψαι παιδα.
In the Lettres Juives is the following
extract from the Mercure Historique et
Politique. Octob. 1736.
We have had
Belgrade
, who took cognizance of the affair on the spot, and by an
officer in
there died at the village of
Kisilova
, three leagues from
Thanks be to
In a certain town of
Hungary
, which is called in
It is now about five years ago, that a certain
Heyduke
, an inhabitant of the village of
All these prudent steps did not hinder the same mischief from
breaking out again about five years afterwards, when
Stanoska, the daughter of a
Heyduke
whose name was
A similar superstition prevails in
I don't doubt they would have sworn it did not stink, had not we
been there; so mazed were
After all our reasons they were of opinion it would be
When the prepossession was so general,
Notwithstanding these wise reflections, they remained in as much
perplexity as they were : they meet
, they debate,
We so often repeated it to the
One day as they were hard at this work,
In these lines I have versified a passage in
"For so have I known a luxuriant Vine swell into irregular
twigs and bold excrescencies, and spend itself in leaves and
little rings, and afford but trifling clusters to the
wine-press, and a faint return to his heart which longed to be
refreshed with a full vintage: but when the
My readers will recollect
How came
The hawk is used at
The Shaheen or Falcon Gentle, flies at a more dangerous game.
Were there not, says
As the
They have a beast called an Ounce, spotted like a Tyger, but
very gentle and tame. A horseman carries it, and on perceiving
the Gazelle lets it loose: and tho' the Gazelle is incredibly
swift, it is so nimble that in three bounds it leaps upon the
neck of its prey. The Gazelle is a sort of small antelope, of
which the country is full. The Ounce immediately strangles it
with its sharp talons, but if unluckily it misses its blow and
the Gazelle escapes, it remains upon the spot ashamed and
confused, and at that moment a child might take or kill it
without its attempting to defend itself.
You
are right, said he, and I do not
know where to find a better head than your own. The
unhappy man was obliged to lose his head, and the royal order
was immediately executed.
A serpent which that aspidis Is cleped, of his kinde hath this, That he the stone noblest of all The whiche that men carbuncle call,Bereth in his head above on high. For whiche whan that a man by slight The stone to wynne, and him to dante, With his carecte him wolde enchante, Anone as he perceiveth that He leyth downe his one ear all plat Unto the ground, and halt it fast, And eke that other eare als faste He shoppeth with his taille so sore, That he the wordes, lasse or more Of his enchantement ne hereth. And in this wise himself he skiereth, So that he hath the wordes wayved, And thus his eare is nought deceived. Gower .
Does not "the deaf adder, that heareth not the voice of the
charmer, charm he never so wisely," allude to some snake that
cannot be enticed by music, as they catch them in
As for the wax it is the finest and whitest that may be had tho'
of bees: and there is such plenty as serves the whole empire.
It being notorious that fire enters into the composition of
So when
because she said she saw a great glory playing around if all the
night.
A well known ceremony of witchcraft, old as classical superstition, and probably not yet wholly disbelieved.
On
Lubar
, or the descending place, is an
A thicket of balm trees is said to have sprung up from the blood
of
The inhabitants of
The
To this end they send to several places several coffins of
lead, with others of wood, which they call Taboat, and bury all
alike with the same magnificence. In this manner they delude the
curiosity of
It is also said in
Were this
There is a story recorded, how that requiescant in pace, the voyces in the graves round
about made answere aloud, and said Amen
The
This Mohammedan tale may be traced to
is considered as being
particularly consecrated to eneffable mysteries. There is a
prevailing opinion, ; that all the
inanimate beings then pay their adoration to
Ferkann
In Megeler, that is in his Council
ChamberBadzen, wind for the women.
A
In this volume the pleadings of
As
In the
"Three ounces of
were among the ingredients of the
witch-caldron in
Hasta los hombros pende su cabello Mas que el oro de Arabia roxo y bello.Cada año qual renuevo lo cortava A damas se vendia para ornato. David, del Doctor Jacobo Uziel .
Adown his shoulders his long tresses roll'd, More beautiful and red than Eastern gold, And annual as he cropt, the envied hair Was yearly sold to ornament the fair.
The
The Cameleon, or Indian Salamander, otherwise called Gekko.
This creature, which is not only found in
Its constant cry is gekko, but before it
begins it makes a kind of hissing noise. The sting of this
creature is so venomous, that the wound proves mortal, unless it
be immediately burnt with a red hot iron, or cut off. The blood
is of a palish colour, resembling poison itself.
The
Is there any analogy between a foam thus procured and the saliva of a mad dog?
The fiction of the Upas is too well known from the Botanic Garden, to need repetition. Suffice it here to remark that the Tree is said to have sprung up as a punishment to the guilty Islanders.
None of our early travellers mention this Tree, and they were too fond of wonders to omit so monstrous a tale, had it been true. It is curious that such a story should have been invented by a Dutchman.
Perhaps the seed of the Upas is contained in the following passage.
Neere unto the said Iland (Java) is another countrey called
Panten, or Tathalamasin. In this land there are trees yeelding
meale, hony and wine, and the most deadly poison in all
When any person is to be buried, it is usual to bring the corpse
at mid-day or afternoon prayers, to one or other of these Mosques,
from whence it is accompanied by the greatest part of the
congregation,
All Mahometans inter the dead at the hour set apart for prayer;
the defunct is not kept in the house, except he expires after
sunset, but the Body is transported to the Mosque, whither it is
carried by those who are going to prayer; each from a spirit of
devotion is desirous to carry in his turn. Women regularly go on
Friday to weep over, and pray
This custom of crowding about a funeral contributes to spread the
plague in
The fullest account of a Mohammedan funeral is in the Lettres sur la Grece, of M. Guys. Chance made him the spectator of a ceremony which the Moslem will not suffer an Infidel to prophane by his presence.
"About ten in the morning I saw the grave-digger at work; the
slaves and the women of the family were seated in the burial
ground, many other women arrived, and then they all began to
lament. After this prelude they one after the other embraced one of
the little pillars which are placed upon the graves, crying out Ogloum, ogloum, sœna Mussaphir gueldi, My
Son, my Son, a guest is coming to see thee. At these words their
tears and sobs began anew; but the storm did not continue long;
they all seated themselves, and entered into conversation.
At noon I heard a confused noise, and cries of lamentation, it was the funeral which arrived. A Turk preceded it, bearing upon his head a small chest; four other Turks carried the bier upon their shoulders, then came the father, the relations and the friends of the dead in great numbers. Their cries ceased at the entrance of the burial ground, but then they quarrelled—and for this. The man who bore the chest opened it, it was filled with copies of the Koran, a croud of Turks, young and old, threw themselves upon the books and scrambled for them. Those who succeeded ranged themselves around the Iman, and all at once began to recite the Koran, almost as Boys say their lesson. Each of the readers received ten parats, about fifteen sols, wrapt in paper. It was then for these fifteen pence that these pious assistants had quarrelled, and in our own country you might have seen them fight for less.
The bier was placed by the grave, in which the grave-digger was
still working, and perfumes were burnt by it. After the reading of
the Koran the Iman chanted some Arabic prayers, and his full-chant
would, no doubt, have appeared to you, as it did to me, very
ridiculous. All the Turks were standing; they held their hands open
over the grave, and answered Amen to all the
prayers which the Iman addressed to
The prayers finished, a large chest was brought about six feet
long and three broad; its boards were very thick. The coffin is
usually made of cypress; thus literally is verified the phrase of
Neque harum, quas colis, arborum, Te, præter invisas cupressus, Ulla brevem dominum sequetur.
Before the corpse is buried it is carried to the Mosque. Then
after having recited the Fatka (a prayer
very similar to our Lord's prayer, which is repeated by all
present) the Iman asks the congregation what they have to testify
concerning the life and morals of the deceased. Each then in his
turn relates those good actions with which he was acquainted. The
body is then washed, and wrapped up like a mummy, so that it cannot
be seen. Drugs and spices are placed in the bier with it, and it is
carried to interment. Before it is lowered into the grave, the Iman
commands silence, saying, "Cease your lamentations for a moment,
and let me instruct this Moslem how to act, when he arrives in Fatka with all the assistants, and the
body is let down into the grave. After they have thrown earth three
times upon the grave, as the Romans used, they retire. The Iman
only remains, he approaches the grave, stoops down, inclines his
ear, and listens to hear if the Dead disputes when the Angel of
Death comes to take him: then he bids him farewell, and in order to
be well paid, never fails to report to the family the best news of
the dead.
They will not bury any man where another hath been buried,
accounting it impiety to dig up another man's bones: by reason
whereof they cover all the best ground about the city with such
great white stones: which, for the infinite number of them, are
thought sufficient to make another wall about the city.
The Turks bury by the way-side, believing that the passengers will
pray for the souls of the dead.
All that day we travelled over
When they have to travel many days thro'
An Abyssinian historian says, that the village, called
rain upon
rain, has its name from an extraordinary circumstance that
once happened in these parts, for a shower of rain fell, which was
not properly of the nature of rain, as it did not run upon the
ground, but remained very light, having scarce the weight of
feathers, of a beautiful white colour like flower; it fell in
showers, and occasioned a darkness in the air more than rain, and
liker to mist. It covered the face of the whole country for several
days, retaining its whiteness the whole time, then went away like
dew, without leaving any smell, or unwholsome effect behind it.
So the Dutch were formerly expelled from
A strange account of the Cedars of Voyage de Syrie
& du Mont Liban. 1722
"This little forest is composed of twenty Cedars of a prodigious size, so large indeed that the finest Planes, Sycamores, and other large trees which we had seen could not be compared with them. Besides these principal Cedars, there were a great number of lesser ones, and some very small, mingled with the large trees, or in little clumps near them. They differed not in their foliage, which resembles the Juniper, and is green throughout the year: but the great Cedars spread at their summit and form a perfect round, whereas the small ones rise in a pyramidal form like the Cypress. Both diffuse the same pleasant odour; the large ones only yield fruit, a large cone in shape almost like that of the Pine, but of a browner colour, and compacter shell. It gives a very pleasant odour, and contains a sort of thick and transparent balm, which oozes out thro' small apertures, and falls drop by drop. This fruit which it is difficult to separate from the stalk, contains a nut like that of the Cypress; it grows at the end of the boughs, and turns its point upwards.
The nature of this tree is not to elevate its trunk, or the part between the root and the first branches; for the largest Cedars which we saw did not in the height of their trunks exceed six or seven feet. From this low but enormously thick body, prodigious branches rise, spreading as they rise, and forming by the disposition of their boughs and leaves which point upward, a sort of wheel which appears to be the work of art. The bark of the cedar, except at the trunk, is smooth and shining, of a brown colour. Its wood white and soft immediately under the bark, but hard and red within, and very bitter, which renders it incorruptible and almost immortal. A fragrant gum issues from the tree.
The largest Cedar which we measured was seven feet in circumference, wanting two inches, and the whole extent of its branches, which it was easy to measure from their perfect roundness, formed a circumference of about 120 feet.
The Patriarch of the Maronites, fully persuaded of the rarity of these Trees, and wishing by the preservation of those that remain to shew his respect for a forest so celebrated in Scripture has pronounced canonical pains, and even excommunication against any Christians who shall dare to cut them; scarcely will he permit a little to be sometimes taken for Crucifixes and little tabernacles in the chapels of our Missionaries.
The Maronites themselves have such a veneration for these Cedars,
that on the day of Transfiguration they celebrate the festival
under them with great solemnity, the Patriarch officiates and says
Mass pontifically, and among other exercises of devotion they
particularly honour the Virgin Mary there, and sing her praises,
because she is compared to the Cedars of
The Maronites say that the snows have no sooner begun to fall than
these Cedars, whose boughs in their infinite number are all so
equal in height that they appear to have been shorn, and form, as
we have said, a sort of wheel or parasol,—than these Cedars, I say,
never fail at that time to change their figure. The branches which
before spread themselves rise insensibly, gathering together it may
be said, and turn their points upward towards Heaven, forming
altogether a pyramid. It is
I have procured more particular information of this fact, and it
has been confirmed by the testimony of many persons, who have often
witnessed it. This is what the Secretary of the Maronite Patriarch
wrote to me in one of his letters, which I think it right to give
in his own words. Cedri Libani quas plantavit
Deus, ut Psalmist: loquitur, sitae sunt in planitie quâdam,
aliquantulum infra altissimum Montis-Libani cacumen, ubi tempore
hyemali maxima nivium quantitas descendit, tribusque &
ultra, mensibus mordaciter dominatur. Cedri in altum ascendunt
extensis tamen ramis in gyrum solo parallelis, confioientibus
suo gyro fere umbellam solarem. Sed superveniente nive, quia
coacervaretur in magnâ quantitate eos desuper, neque possent
pati tantum pondus tanto tempore premens, sine certo fractionis
discrimine, Natura, rerum omnium provida mater, ipsis concessit,
ut adveniente hyeme & descendente nive, statim rami in altum
assurgant, & secum invicem uniti constituant quasi conum, ut
melius sese ab adveniente hoste tueantur. Naturá enim ipsâ verum
est, virtutem quamlebet unitam simul reddi fortiorem.
The Cedars of
The Coffee plant is about the size of the orange tree, the flower in colour, size, and smell, resembles the white jessamine, the berry is first green, then red, in which ripe state it is gathered.
Olearius's description of Coffee is amusing. "They drink a certain
black water which they call Cahwa, made of a fruit brought out of
Amb. Travels.
It is well known how much the Orientalists are addicted to this pretended science. There is a curious instance of public folly in Sir John Chardin's travels.
"Sephie-Mirza was born in the year of the Egire 1057. for the superstition
At the coronation of this Prince two Astrologers were to be present, with an Astrolabe in their hands, to take the fortunate hour, as they term it, and observe the lucky moments that a happy constellation should point out for proceedings of that importance.
Sephie-Mirza having by debauchery materially injured his health,
the Chief Physician was greatly alarmed, "in regard his life
depended upon the King's, or if his life were spared yet he was
sure to lose his estate and his liberty, as happens to all those
who attend the Asiatic Sovereigns, when they die under their care.
The Queen Mother too accused him of treason or ignorance, believing
that since he was her Son's Physician he was obliged to cure him.
This made the Physician at his wits end, so that all his receipts
failing him, he bethought himself of one that was peculiarly his
own invention, and which few physicians would ever have found out,
as not being to be met with neither in Galen nor Hippocrates. What
does he then do, but out of an extraordinary fetch of his wit, he
begins to lay the fault upon the stars and the King's Astrologers,
crying out that they were altogether in the wrong, that if the King
lay in a languishing condition and could not recover his health it
was because they had failed to observe the happy hour, or the
Aspect of a fortunate constellation at the time of his coronation."
The stratagem succeeded, the King was recrowned and by the new name
of Solyman!
We have now to refute their errour who are persuaded that Brazen
Heads made under certain constellations may give answers, and be as
it were guides and counsellors, upon all occasions, to those that
had them in their possession. Among these is one Yepes who affirms
that Henry de Villeine made such a one at
But to give a more rational account of this Androides of Albertus, as also of all these miraculous heads, I conceive the original of this fable may well be deduced from the Teraph of the Hebrews, by which as Mr. Selden affirms, many are of opinion, that we must understand what is said in Genesis concerning Laban's Gods, and in the first book of Kings concerning the image which Michol put into the bed in David's place. For R. Eleazar holds that it was made of the head of a male child, the first born and that dead-born, under whose tongue they applyed a lamen of Gold, whereon were engraved the characters and inscriptions of certain planets, which the Jews superstitiously wandered up and down with, instead of the Urim and Thummim, or the Ephod of the High Priest. And that this original is true and well deduced, there is a manifest indicium, in that Henry D'Assia, and Bartholomæus Sibillus affirm, that the Androides of Albertus, and the Head made by Virgil, were composed of flesh and bone, yet not by nature, but by art. But this being judged impossible by modern Authors, and the vertue of Images, Annulets, and planetary Sigills being in great reputation, men have thought ever since (taking their opinion from Trismegistus affirming in his Asclepion, that of the Gods, some were made by the Sovereign God, and others by men, who, by some art, had the power to unite the invisible Spirits to things visible and corporeal, as is explained at large by St. Augustine) that such figures were made of copper or some other metal, whereon men had wrought under some favourable Aspects of Heaven and the planets.
My design is not absolutely to deny that he might compose some
head or statue of man, like that of Memnon, from which proceeded a
small sound and pleasant noise, when the rising Sun came by his
heat to rarify and force out, by certain small conduits, the air
which in the cold of the night was condensed within it. Or haply
they might be like those statues of Boetius, whereof Cassiodorus
speaking said, Metalla mugiunt, Diomedis in ære grues buccinant, ænus anguis
insibilat, aves simulatæ fritinniunt, et quæ propriam vocem
nesciunt, ab ære dulcedinem probantur emittere cantilenæ;
for such I doubt not but may be made by the help of that part of
Natural Magic which depends on the Mathematics.
The title page to this book is wanting;, but the Epistle
Dedicatory is signed J. Davies. By the stile, spelling, and extensive reading of the author, it appears
to be a work of the last century.
This Table is suspended in
They celebrate the night Léïleth-ul-beraeth on the 15th of the
month of Schabann, with great apprehension and terror, because they
consider it as the tremendous night on which the angels
Kiramenn-keatibinn, placed on each side of mankind to write down
their good and bad actions, deliver up their books and receive
fresh ones for the continuance of the same employment. It is
believed also, that on that night the archangel Azrail, the angel
of death, gives up also his records and receives another book in
which are written the names of all those destined to die in the
following year.
The Balance of the Dead is an article in almost every creed. Mohammed borrowed it from the Persians. I know not from whence the Monks introduced it; probably they were ignorant enough to have invented the obvious fiction.
In the Vision of Thurcillus the ceremony is accurately described.
"At the end of the north wall, within the church, sate St.
Paul, and opposite him, without, was
"Concerning the salvation of Charlemagne, Archbishop Turpin, a man of holy life, wrote thus. "I, Turpin, Archbishop of Rheims, being in my chamber, in the city of Vienna, saying my prayers, saw a legion of Devils in the air, who were making a great noise. I adjured one of them to tell me from whence they came, and wherefore they made so great an uproar. And he replied that they came from
Aix la Chapelle , where a great Lord had died, and that they were returning in anger because they had not been able to carry away his soul. I asked him who the great Lord was, and why they had not been able to carry away his soul. He replied that it was Charlemagne, and that Saint Jago had been greatly against them. And I asked him how St. Jago had been against them; and he replied, we were weighing the good and the evil which he had donein this world , and Saint Jago brought so much timber and so many stones from the churches which he had founded in his name, that they greatly over-balanced all his evil works; and so we had no power over his soul. And having said thisthe Devil disappeared."
We must understand from this vision of Archbishop Turpin, that
they who build or repair churches
Historia do Imperador Carlos Magno, &
dos Doze Pares de França.
Two other corollaries follow from the vision. The Devil's way home
from
This Balance of the Dead was an easy and apt metaphor, but clumsily imagined as an actual mode of trial.
"For take thy Ballaunce, if thou be so wise, "And weigh the winde that under heaven doth blow; "Or weigh the light that in the East doth rise: "Or weigh the thought that from man's mind doth flow "But if the weight of these thou canst not show, "Weigh but one word which from thy lips doth fall." Spenser .
This double meaning is in the spirit of oracular prediction. The
classical reader will remember the equivocations of Apollo, the
fable of the young man and the Lion in the tapestry will be more
generally recollected: we have many buildings in England to which
this story has been applied,—
The History of the Buccaneers affords a remarkable instance of prophecy occasioning its own accomplishment.
"Before my first going over into the
South-Seas
with Captain
This door they spake of we all concluded must be the passage over
land through Indians of Darien
Spaniards, breaking off the intercourse which for some
time they had with them: And upon calling also to mind the frequent
invitations we had from those Indians a
little before this time, to pass through their Country, and fall
upon the Spaniards in the South-Seas, we from henceforward began to entertain such
thoughts in earnest, and soon came to a resolution to make those
attempts which we afterwards did with Capt. Sharp, Coxon, &c. So that the taking these letters
gave the first life to those bold undertakings: And we took the
advantage of the fears the Spaniards were in
from that prophecy, or probable conjecture, or whatever it were;
for we sealed up most of the letters again, and sent them ashore to
Portobel
.
The Souls of the Blessed are supposed by some of the Mohammedans
to animate green Birds in
To this there is an allusion in the Moallakat. "Then I knew with
certainty, that, in so fierce a contest with them, many a heavy
blow would make the Perched Birds of the Brain fly quickly from
every Skull."
In the Bahar-Danush, Parrots are called the green-vested
resemblers of "The Bird of Understanding fled from the nest of my
brain."
"My joints and members seemed as if they would separate from
each other, and the Bird of Life would quit the nest of my
Body."
"The Bird of my Soul became a captive in the net of her glossy
ringlets."
I remember in a European Magazine two similar lines by the Author
of the
My beating Bosom is a well-wrought cage,Whence that sweet Gold-finch Hope shall ne'er elope!
The inhabitants of
The disembowelling of the body there, is always performed in great
secrecy, and with much religious superstition. The bowels are, by
these people, considered as the immediate organs of sensation,
where the first impressions are received, and by which all the
operations of the mind are carried on: it is therefore natural to
conclude, that they may esteem, and venerate the intestines, as
bearing the greatest affinity to the immortal part. I have
frequently held conversations on this subject, with a view to
convince them, that all intellectual operations were carried on in
the head; at which they would generally smile, and intimate, that
they had frequently seen men recover whose skulls had been
fractured, and whose heads had otherways been much injured; but
that, in all cases in which the intestines had been wounded, the
persons on a certainty died. Other arguments they would also
advance in favour of their belief; such as the effect of fear, and
other passions, which caused great agitation and uneasiness, and
would sometimes produce sickness at the stomach, which they
attributed intirely to the action of the bowels.
When Hosein the son of Ali was sick of a grievous disorder, he longed for a pomegranate, tho' that fruit was not then in season. Ali went out, and diligently enquiring found a single one in the possession of a Jew. As he returned with it, a sick man met him and begged half the pomegranate, saying it would restore his health. Ali gave him half, and when he had eaten it, the man requested he would give him the other half, the sooner to complete his recovery. Ali benignantly complied, returned to his son and told him what had happened, and Hosein approved what his father had done.
Immediately behold a miracle! as they were talking together the
door was gently knocked at. He ordered the woman servant to go
there, and she found a man, of all men the most beautiful, who had
a plate in his hand covered with green silk, in which were ten
pomegranates. The woman was astonished at the beauty of the man and
of the pomegranates, and she took one of them and hid it, and
carried the other nine to Aly, who kissed the present. When he had
counted them he found that one was wanting, and said so to the
servant, she confessed that she had taken it on account of its
excellence, and Ali gave her her liberty. The Pomegranates were
from
I suspect, says Maracci, that this is a true miracle wrought by
some Christian Saint, and falsely attributed to Ali. However this
may be, it does not appear absurd that
Maracci after detailing and ridiculing the Mohammedan miracles,
contrasts with them in an appendix a few of the real and permanent
miracles of Christianity which are proved by the testimony of
2. The cross of St. Thomas in
3. Certissimum quia evidentissimum—at Barii (Bari on the Adriatic) in Apulia a
liquor flows from the bones of St. Nicholas, they call it St.
Nicholas's manna, which being preserved in bottles never corrupts
or breeds worms—except the possessor be corrupt himself—and daily
it works miracles.
4. At Tolentinum (Tolentino in the Marche of Anconia) the arms of St. Nicholas swell with blood, and pour out copious streams—when any great calamity impends over Christendom.
5. The blood of St. Jaunarius at Naples.
These, says Maracci, are miracula
perseverantia, permanent miracles—and it cannot be said as
of the Mohammedan ones, that they are tricks of
In the Bahar-Danush the Simorg is mentioned as a genus—not an individual, this is heresy,—the unity of the Simorg being expressed in all the books of canonical Romance.
The Simorg is a monstrous Bird like a Griffin; in the History of Caherman, he is made to say,
That he had existed through all the revolutions of ages and of
created things, which passed before the time of Adam. These created
things were reasonable beings, but had not human shape. They were
governed by the various Solomons mentioned in the note Vol. I. Page
214.
END.