Thalaba the Destroyer Part 36

[70] The Mussulmans are immutably prepossessed, that as the Earth approaches its dissolution, its sons and daughters gradually decrease in their dimensions. As for Dagjial, they say, he will find the race of mankind dwindled into such diminutive pigmies, that their habitations in cities, and all the best towns, will be of no other fabrick than the shoes and slippers made in these present ages, placed in rank and file, in seemly and regular order; allowing one pair for two round families.

_Morgan's Hist. of Algiers._

[71] The story of Haruth and Maruth as in the Poem, may be found in D'Herbelot, and in Sale's notes to the Koran. Of the differing accounts I have preferred that which makes Zohara originally a woman, and metamorphoses her into the planet Venus to that which says the planet Venus descended as Zohara to tempt the Angels.

The Arabians have so childish a love of rhyme, that when two names are usually coupled they make them jingle, as in the case of Haruth and Maruth. Thus they call Cain and Abel, Abel and Kabel. I am informed that the Koran is crowded with rhymes, more particularly at the conclusion of the chapters.

[72] The Ism-Ablah--The Science of the Name of G.o.d. They pretend that G.o.d is the lock of this science, and Mohammed the key, that consequently none but Mohammedans can attain it; that it discovers what pa.s.ses in distant countries, that it familiarizes the possessors with the Genii, who are at the command of the initiated and who instruct them; that it places the winds and the seasons at their disposal, that it heals the bile of serpents, the lame, the maimed, and the blind. They say that some of their greatest Saints, such as _Abdulkadir Cheilani_ of Bagdat, and _Ibn Alwan_ who resided in the south of Yemen, were so far advanced in this science by their devotion, that they said their prayers every noon in the Kaba of Mecca, and were not absent from their own houses any other part of the day. A merchant of Mecca, who had learnt it in all its forms from Mohammed el Dsjanadsjeni (at present so famous in that city) pretended that he himself being in danger of peris.h.i.+ng at sea, had fastened a billet to the mast with the usual ceremonies, and that immediately the tempest ceased. He showed me at Bombay, but at a distance, a book which contained all sorts of figures and mathematical tables, with instructions how to arrange the billets and the appropriate prayers for every circ.u.mstance. But he would neither suffer me to touch the Book, nor copy the t.i.tle.

There are some Mohammedans who shut themselves up in a dark place without eating and drinking for a long time, and there with a loud voice repeat certain short prayers till they faint. When they recover they pretend to have seen not only a croud of Spirits, but G.o.d himself, and even the Devil. But the true initiated in the Ism-Allah do not seek these visions. The secret of discovering hidden treasures, belong also, if I mistake not, to the Ism Allah.

_Niebuhr._

[73] 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.

_Niebuhr._

"They surprized you, not indeed by a sudden a.s.sault; but they advanced, and the sultry vapour of noon thro' which you saw them, increased their magnitude."

_Moallakat. Poem of Hareth._

[74] 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.

_Shaw._

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 pa.s.s 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 Moors of the country, is without seam, and incapable of varying according to the caprices of fas.h.i.+on. When dirty it is washed: the Moor is wrapped up in it day and night, and this _haick_ is the living model of the drapery of the ancients.

_Chenier._

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?

_Exodus._ XXII. 26. 27.

[75] Fear the fire whose fuel is men, and stones prepared for the unbelievers.

_Koran. Chap. 2._

Verily those who disbelieve our signs, we will surely cast to be broiled in h.e.l.l fire; so often as their skins shall be well burned, we will give them other skins in exchange, that they may take the sharper torment.

_Koran. Chap. 4._

[76] The Arabians attribute to Solomon a perpetual enmity and warfare against wicked Genii and Giants; on the subject of his wonder-working Ring their tales are innumerable. They have even invented a whole race of Pre-Adamite Solomons, who according to them governed the world successively to the number of 40, or as others affirm, as many as 72.

All these made the evil Genii their unwilling Drudges.

_D'Herbelot._

Anchieta was going in a canoe to the mouth of the river Aldea, a delightful spot, surrounded with mango trees, and usually abounding with birds called goarazes, that breed there. These birds are about the size of a hen, their colour a rich purple, inclining to red. They are white when hatched, and soon become black, but as they grow larger lose that colour and take this rich and beautiful purple. Our navigators had reached the place, but when they should have enjoyed the fine prospect which delights all who pa.s.s it, the sun was excessively hot, and this eye-pleasure was purchased dearly when the whole body was in a profuse perspiration, and the rowers were in a fever. Their distress called upon Joseph, and the remedy was no new one to him. He saw three or four of these birds perched upon a mango, and calling to them in the Brazilian language which the rowers understood, said, go you, call your companions, and come to shade these hot servants of the Lord. The birds stretched out their necks as if in obedience, and away they went to seek for others, and in a short time they came flying in the shape of an elegant cloud, and they shadowed the canoe a good league out to sea till the fresh sea breeze sprung up. Then they told them they might go about their business, and they separated with a clamor of rude but joyful sounds, which were only understood by the Author of Nature who created them. This was a greater miracle than that of the cloud with which G.o.d defended his chosen people in the wilderness from the heat of the sun, inasmuch as it was a more elegant and fanciful parasol. _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 Anchietus. Jacob Biderman has an epigram upon the subject, quoted in the Jesuit's life.

Hesperii peterent c.u.m barbara littora mystae, Et sociis aeger pluribus unus erat, Ille suum extincto, Phoebi quia lampadis aestu Occultoque uri, questus ab igne caput Quaesiit in prora, si quam daiet angulus umbram, Nulla sed in prorae partibus umbra fuit.

Quaesiit in puppi, nihil umbrae 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, quaere cohortes Aliger atque redux c.u.m legione veni.

Dicta probavit avis, celerique citatior Euro, Cognatum properat, quaerere jussa gregem.

Milleque mox sociis comitata revert.i.tur alis, Mille sequi visae, mille praeire ducem.

Mille supra, & totidem, juxtaque, infraque volabant, Omnis ad Anchietae 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 haec 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._

Father Simam de Vasconcellos probably stole this miracle from the Arabian story of Solomon, not that he is deficient in invention, but a Jesuit cannot be suspected of ignorance.

In a very old book, the _Margarita Philosophica_, is an account of a parasol more convenient, tho' not in so _elegant a taste_ as that of the wonder worker Anchieta. There is said to be a nation of one legged men, and one of these unipods is represented in a print lying on his back, under the shade of his own great foot. It is probably a cla.s.sical lie.

The most quaint account of Solomon's wisdom is in Du Bartas.

Hee knowes---- Whether the Heavens sweet-sweating kisse appear To be Pearls parent, and the Oysters pheer, And whether, dusk, it makes them dim withall, Cleer breeds the cleer, and stormy brings the pale: Whether from sea the amber-greece be sent, Or be some fishes pleasant excrement.

He knowes why the Earth's immoveable and round, The lees of Nature, center of the mound; Hee knows her mesure: and hee knows beside How _Coloquintida_ (duely apply'd) Within the darknesse of the Conduit-pipes, Amid the winding of our inward tripes, Can so discreetly the _white humour_ take.

_Sylvester's Du Bartas._

[77] In places where there was water we found a beautiful variety of the plover.

_Niebuhr._

[78] 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.

_Tavernier._

[79] 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 gra.s.s 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 subst.i.tuted as food for man or beast.