"Wreathes the horn'd viper round her playful child.” — 31, p. 298. A thicket of balm-trees is said to have sprung up from the blood of the Moslem slain at Beder. Ælianus avoucheth, that those vipers which breed in the provinces of Arabia, although they do bite, yet their biting is not venomous, because they doe feede on the baulme-tree, and sleepe under the shadow thereof. Treasury of Ancient and Modern Times. The balsam-tree is nearly of the same size as a sprig of myrtle, and its leaves are like those of the herb sweet marjoram. Vipers take up their residence about these plants, and are in some places more numerous than in others; for the juice of the balsam-tree is their sweetest food, and they are delighted with the shade produced by its leaves. When the time therefore arrives for gathering the juice of this tree, the Arabians come into the sacred grove, each of them holding two twigs. By shaking these, they put to flight the vipers; for they are unwilling to kill them, because they consider them as the sacred inhabitants of the balsam. And if it happens that any one is wounded by a viper, the wound resembles that which is made by iron, but is not attended with any dangerous consequences; for these animals being fed with the juice of the balsam-tree, which is the most odoriferous of all trees, their poison becomes changed from a deadly quality into one which produces a milder effect. Pausanias. The inhabitants of Helicon say, that none of the herbs or roots which are produced in this mountain, are destructive to mankind. They add, that the pastures here even debilitate the venom of serpents; so that those who are frequently bit by serpents in this part, escape the danger with greater ease than if they were of the nation of the Psylli, or had discovered an antidote against poison. - Pausanias. "There is a Grave-wax, — I have seen the Gouls," &c.—31, p. 298. The common people of England have long been acquainted with this change which muscular fibre undergoes. Before the circumstance was known to philosophers, I have heard them express a dislike and loathing to spermaceti, because it was dead men's fat. Feel feet unholy trampling over them. -33, p. 299. The Persians are strangely superstitious about the burial of their kings. For, fearing lest, by some magical art, any enchantments should be practised upon their bodies to the prejudice of their children, they conceal, as much as in them lies, the real place of interment. 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 the people, who cannot discern, by the outside, in which of the coffins the real body should be. Not but it might be discovered by such as would put themselves to the expense and trouble of doing it. And thus it shall be related in the life of Habas the Great, that twelve of these coffins were conveyed to twelve of the principal Mosques, not for the sake of their riches, but of the person which they enclosed; and yet nobody knew in which of the twelve the king's body was laid, though the common belief is, that it was deposited at Ardevil. It is also said in the life of Sefie I., that there were three coffins carried to three several places, as if there had been a triple production from one body, though it were a thing almost certainly known, that the coffin where the body was laid, was carried to the same city of Kom, and to the same place where the deceased king commanded the body of his deceased father to be carried. - Chardin. They imagine the dead are capable of pain. A Portuguese gentleman had one day ignorantly strayed among the tombs, and a Moor, after much wrangling, obliged him to go before the Cadi. The gentleman complained of violence and asserted he had committed no crime; but the judge informed him he was mistaken, for that the poor dead suffered when trodden on by Christian feet. Muley Ishmael once had occasion to bring one of his wives through a burial-ground, and the people removed the bones of their relations, and murmuring, said, be would neither suffer the living nor the dead to rest in peace. -Chenier. Additional Chap. by the Translator. Were the Moorish superstition true, there would have been some monkish merit in the last request of St. Swithin —“ when he was ready to depart out of this world, he comnianded (for humilityes sake) his body to be buried in the church-yard, whereon every one might tread with their feet."- English Martyrologe. There is a story recorded, how that St. Frithstane was wont every day to say masse and office for the dead; and one evening, as he walked in the church-yard, reciting the said office, when he came to requiescant in pace, the voyces in the graves round about made answere aloud, and said, Amen. — English Martyrologe. I observed at Damascus, says Thevenot, that the Turks leave a hole, of three fingers' breadth in diameter, on the top of their tombs, (where there is a channel of earth over the dead body,) that serves to cool the dead; for the women, going thither on Thursday to pray, which they never fail to do every week, they pour in water by that hole to refresh them, and quench their thirst; and at the end of the grave, they stick in a large branch of box, and leave it there, to keep the dead cool. They have another no less pleasant custom, and that is, when a woman hath lost her husband, she still asks his counsel about her affairs. For instance, she will go to his grave, and tell him that such a person hath wronged her, or that such a man would marry her, and thereupon asks his counsel what she should do; having done so, she returns home, expecting the answer, which her late husband fails not to come and give her the night following. "The gnawing of his hundred poison-mouths!" &c.-38, p. 299. The Mohammedan tradition is even more horrible than this. The corpse of the wicked is gnawed and stung till the resurrection by ninety-nine dragons, with seven heads each; or, as others say, their sins will become venomous beasts, the grievous ones stinging like dragons, the smaller like scorpions, and the others like serpents; circumstances which some understand in a figurative sense. - Sale's Preliminary Discourse. This Mohammedan tale may be traced to the Scripture "whose worm dieth not." They also believe, that after a man is buried, the soul returns to the body; and that two very terrible angels come into the grave, the one called Munkir, and the other Guanequir, who take him by the head, and make him kneel, and that, for that reason, they leave a tuft of hair on the crown of their head, that the angels who make them kneel may take hold of it. After that, the angels examine him in this manner: Who is thy God, thy religion, and prophet? and he answers thus: My God is the true God; my religion is the true religion; and my prophet is Mahomet. But if that man find himself to be guilty, and, being afraid of their tortures, shall say, You are my God and my prophet, and it is in you that I believe, -at such an answer, these angels smite him with a mace of fire, and depart; and the earth squeezes the poor wretch so hard, that his mother's milk comes running out of his nose. After that come two other angels, bringing an ugly creature with them, that represents his sins and bad deeds, changed into that form; then, opening a window, they depart into hell, and the man remains there with that ugly creature, being continually tormented with the sight of it, and the common miseries of the damned, until the day of judgment, when both go to hell together. But if he hath lived well, and made the first answer above mentioned, they bring him a lovely creature, which represents his good actions, changed | peopled lands which were thine, in this desolation? And into that form; then the angels, opening a window, go away to paradise, and the lovely creature remains, which gives him a great deal of content, and stays with him until the day of judgment, when both are received into paradise. — Thevenot. Monkish ingenuity has invented something not unlike this Mohammedan article of faith. where are the pleasures which were thine, in this solitariness? And the third Almalac comes when they place him upon the bier, and says, Now, son of Adam, to-day thou shalt travel a journey, than which, thou hast never travelled longer; to-day thou shalt see a people, such as thou hast never seen before; to-day thou shalt enter a house, than St. Elphege, saith William of Malmesbury, in his tender which, thou hast never entered a narrower nor a darker. years took the monastic habit at Dirherst, then a small monas- And the fourth Almalac comes when they put him in the tery, and now only an empty monument of antiquity. There, grave, and says, Now, son of Adam, yesterday thou wert after he had continued awhile, aspiring to greater perfection, upon the face of the earth, blithe and joyous, to-day thou art he went to Bath, where, enclosing himself in a secret cell, he in its bowels; a good day is to betide thee, if thou art in the employed his mind in contemplation of celestial things. To grace of Allah, and an ill day will betide thee if thou art in the him there, after a short time, were congregated a great number wrath of Allah. And the fifth Almalac comes when he is inof religious persons, desiring his instructions and directions: terred, and says, Now, son of Adam, to-day thou wilt be left and among them, being many, there were some who gave them- alone, and though we were to remain with thee, we should selves to licentious feasting and drinking in the night time, profit thee nothing, as to the wealth which thou hast gathered their spiritual father, St. Elphege, not knowing of it. But Al- together, and must now leave to another. To-day thou wilt mighty God did not a long time suffer this their license; but, be rejoicing in paradise, or tormented in the fire. These five at midnight, struck with a sudden death one who was the ring- Almalaques come by the command of Allah, to every person leader in this licentiousness, in the chamber where they prac-in the pass of death. Let us pray to Allah, that, through the tised such excesses. In the mean time, the holy man, being at his prayers, was interrupted by a great noise, proceeding out of the same chamber, and wondering at a thing so unaccustomed, he went softly to the door, looking in through certain clefts, he saw two devils of a vast stature, which, with frequent strokes as of hammers, tormented the liveless carkeys; from whence, notwithstanding, proceeded loud clamors, as desiring help. But his tormentors answered, Thou didst not obey God, neither will we thee. This, the next morning, the holy man related to the rest; and no wonder if his companions became afterward more abstemious. Cressy. There is another ceremony to be undergone at the time of death, which is described in a most barbarous mixture of Arabic and Spanish. The original is given for its singularity. mediation and merits of our prophet Mahommed, he may place us among his obedient servants, that we may be worthy to be safe from the terror of the grave, and of these five Almalaques, through his holy compassion and mercy. Amen. For this was that most holy night, &c.—39, p. 299. The night, Leileth-ul-cadr, is considered as being particularly consecrated to ineffable mysteries. There is a prevailing opinion, that a thousand secret and invisible prodigies are performed on this night; that all the inanimate beings then pay their adoration to God; that all the waters of the sea lose their saltness, and become fresh at these mysterious moments; that such, in fine, is its sanctity, that prayers said during this night are equal in value to all those which can be said in a thousand successive months. It has not, however, pleased God, says the author of the celebrated theological work entitled Ferkann, to reveal it to the faithful: no prophet, no saint has been able to discover it; hence, this night, so august, so mysterious, so favored by Heaven, has hitherto remained undiscovered. — D'Ohsson. They all hold, that sometime on this night, the firmament opens for a moment or two, and the glory of God appears vis Sepa todo Moslim que quando viene a la muerte, que lenvia Allah cinco Almalaques. El piri:nero viene quando lurruh (la alma) esta en la garganta, y dize le, ye fijo de Adam que es de tu cuerpo el forçudo, que tan falaco es oy? y que es de tu lengua la fablante, como se enmudercido el dia de oy? y que es de tu conpania y parientes? oy te desaran solo. Y viene lalmalac segondo, quando le meten la mortaja, y dize le, ye fijo de Adam, que es de lo que tenias de la requeza para la povreza? y que es de lo que a'çaste del poblado para el yermo? y que es de lo que alçaste del solaço para la soledad? Y viene lalmalac tercero quando lo ponen en lanaas (las andas), y dize le, Ye fijo de Adam, oy cam-ible to the eyes of those who are so happy as to behold it; inaras camino que nunca lo camines mas luente qu'el; el dia de oy veras jente que nunca la veyerte nunca jamas; el dia de oy entararas en casa que nunca entaraste en mas esterecha qu' ella jamas ni mas escura. Y viene lalmalac quarto, quando lo meten en la fuessa y quirida, y dize, Ye fijo de Adam, ayer eras sobre la carra de la tierra alegre y goyoso, oy seras en su vientre; y buen dia te vino si tu eres en la garacia de Allah, y mal dia te vino si tu eres en la ira de Allah. Y viene lalmalac cinqueno quando esta soterrado y quirida, y dize, Ye fijo de Adam oy quedaras solo y aunque quedaremos con tu no aporovejariamos ninguna cosa; a spelegado ellalgo y desas lo para otri; el dia de oy seras en laljenna (parayso) vicyuso, o en el fuego penoso. Aquestos cinco Almalaques vienen por mandamiento de Allah a todo peresona en el paso de la muerte. Rogemos de Allah nos ponga por la rogarye y alfadhila (merecimiento) de nuestoro alnabi (profete) Mohammad (salla allaho alayhi vasallam) nos ponga de los siervos obidientes, que merescamos ser seguros del espanto de la fuessa y destos cincos almalaques por su santo alrahma (miserecordia) y peadad. Amen. Notices des Manuscrits de la Bibl. Let every Moslem know, that when he comes to die, Allah sends five Almalaques to him.* The first comes when the soul is in the throat, and says to him, Now, son of Adam, what is become of thy body, the strong, which is to-day so feeble? And what is become of thy tongue, the talker, that is thus made dumb to-day? And where are thy companions and thy kin? To-day they have left thee alone. And the second Almalac comes when they put on the winding-sheet, and says, Now, son of Adam, what is become of the riches which thou hadst, in this poverty? And where are the ⚫ I suppose this means angels, from the Hebrew word for king. at which juncture, whatever is asked of God by the fortunate beholder of the mysteries of that critical minute, is infallibly granted. This sets many credulous and superstitious people upon the watch all night long, till the morning begins to dawn. It is my opinion, that they go on full as wise as they come off'; I mean, from standing sentinel for so many hours. Though many stories are told of people who have enjoyed the privilege of seeing that miraculous opening of the Heavens; of all which few have had power to speak their mind, till it was too late, so great was their ecstasy. But one passage, pleasant enough, was once told me by a grave, elderly gentlewoman, at Constantina, in Barbary. There was, not many years before my time, said she, in this town, a Mulatta wench, belonging to such a great family, (naming one of the best in the town,) who being quite out of love with her woolly locks, and imagining that she wanted nothing to make her thought a pretty girl, but a good head of hair, took her supper in her hand presently after sunset, and, without letting any body into her secret, stole away, and shut herself up in the uppermost apartment in the house, and went upon the watch. She had the good fortune to direct her optics towards the right quarter, the patience to look so long and so steadfastly, till she plainly beheld the beams of celestial glory darting through the amazing chasm in the divided firmament, and the resolution to cry out, with all her might, Ya Rabbi Kubbar Rassi; i. e. O Lord, make my head big! This expression is, figuratively, not improper to pray for a good head of hair. But, unhappily for the poor girl, it seems God was pleased to take her words in the literal sense; for, early in the morning, the neighbors were disturbed by the terrible noise and bawling she made; and they were forced to hasten to her assistance with tools proper to break down the walls about her ears, in order to get her head in at the window, it being grown to a monstrous magnitude, bigger in circum ference than several bushels; I don't remember exactly how many; nor am I certain whether she survived her misfortune or not. Morgan. Note to Rabadan. According to Francklin, it is believed, that whatever Moslem die during the month of Ramadan, will most assuredly enter into paradise, because the gates of Heaven then stand open, by command of God. - Tour from Bengal to Persia, p. 136. During the Asciur, the ten days of festive ceremony for Hosein, the Persians believe that the gates of paradise are thrown open, and that all the Moslem who die find immediate admittance. - Pietro delle Valle. And the Good Angel that abandon'd her, &c.—41, p. 299. The Turks also acknowledge guardian angels, but in far greater number than we do; for they say, that God hath appointed threescore and ten angels, though they be invisible, for the guard of every Mussulman, and nothing befalls any body but what they attribute to them. They have all their several offices, one to guard one member, and another another; one to serve him in such an affair, and another in another. There are, among all these angels, two who are the dictators over the rest; they sit one on the right side, and the other on the left; these they call Kerim Kiatib, that is to say, the merciful scribes. He on the right side writes down the good actions of the man whom he has in tuition, and the other on the left hand, the bad. They are so merciful that they spare him if he commit a sin before he goes to sleep, hoping he'll repent; and if he does not repent, they mark it down; if he does repent, they write down, Estig fourillah, that is to say, God pardons. They wait upon him in all places, except when he does his needs, where they let him go alone, staying for him at the door till he come out, and then they take him into possession again; wherefore, when the Turks go to the house-ofoffice, they put the left foot foremost, to the end the angel who registers their sins, may leave them first; and when they come out, they set the right foot before, that the angel who writes down their good works, may have them first under his protection. Thevenot. THE TENTH BOOK. And the Angel that was sent unto me said, Thinkest thou to comprehend the way of the Most High?. -Then said I, Yea, my Lord. And he answered me, and said, I am sent to shew thee three ways, and to set forth three similitudes before thee; whereof if thou canst declare me one, I will shew thee also the way that thou desirest to see, and I shall shew thee from whence the wicked heart cometh. And I said, Tell on, my Lord. Then said he unto me, Go thy way, weigh me the weight of the fire, or measure me the blast of the wind, or call me again the day that is past. 1. ESDRAS, ii. 4. ERE there was time for wonder or for fear, The way was past; and lo! again, Amid surrounding snows, Within the cavern of the Witch they stand. 2. Then came the weakness of her natural age Fell on her, and she knew That her repentance in the sight of God Had now found favor, and her hour was come. Her death was like the righteous: "Turn my face To Mecca!" in her languid eyes The joy of certain hope Lit a last lustre, and in death A smile was on her cheek. 3. No faithful crowded round her bier; No tongue reported her good deeds; For her no mourners wail'd and wept; No Iman o'er her perfumed corpse For her soul's health intoned the prayer; Nor column, raised by the way-side, Implored the passing traveller To say a requiem for the dead. Thalaba laid her in the snow, And took his weapons from the hearth; And then once more the youth began His weary way of solitude. 4. The breath of the East is in his face, The air is keen, the wind is keen; His spirit chill'd within him. He looks on But all is sky, and the white wilderness, A heavy weight is on his lids; 5. It was a cedar-tree Which woke him from that deadly drowsiness; He knew the lesson Nature gave, 6. Now sunk the evening sun, Through the red light the snow-flakes fell like fire. And it drifts the dust of the snow. The snow is clotted in his hair; The breath of Thalaba Is iced upon his lips. He looks around; the darkness, The dizzy floating of the feathery sky, Close in his narrow view. 7. At length, through the thick atmosphere, a light Not distant far appears. He, doubting other wiles of sorcery, With mingled joy and fear, yet quicken'd step, Bends thitherward his way. 8. It was a little, lowly dwelling-place Amid a garden whose delightful air Was mild and fragrant as the evening wind Passing in summer o'er the coffee-groves Of Yemen and its blessed bowers of balm. A fount of Fire, that in the centre play'd, Roll'd all around its wondrous rivulets, And fed the garden with the heat of life. Every where magic! the Arabian's heart' Yearn'd after human intercourse. A light!-the door unclosed!All silent-he goes in. 9. There lay a Damsel, sleeping on a couch: Too innocent to fear. She rose and took his hand; But at the touch the joy forsook her cheek: "I thought I should have felt it warm, like THALABA. I will not eat! It came by magic! fool, to think that aught But fraud and danger could await me here. Let loose my cloak !— Why dost thou stand and gaze upon me thus? Ay eye the features well that threaten thee With fraud and danger! in the wilderness They shall avenge me,—in the hour of want, Rise on thy view, and make thee feel How innocent I am : And this remember'd cowardice and insult, With a more painful shame, will burn thy cheek, Than now heats mine in anger! THALABA. Mark me, Lady! Many and restless are my enemies : My daily paths have been beset with snares Till I have learnt suspicion, bitter sufferings - Made me. He made this dwelling, and the grove, THALABA. And have you always had your dwelling here Amid this solitude of snow? LAILA. I think so. I can remember, with unsteady feet Tottering from room to room, and finding pleasure In flowers, and toys, and sweetmeats, things which long Have lost their power to please; which, when I see them, Raise only now a melancholy wish, I were the little trifler once again, Who could be pleased so lightly! THALABA. Then you know not Your Father's art? LAILA. No. I besought him once To give me power like his, that where he went I might go with him; but he shook his head, And said, it was a power too dearly bought, And kiss'd me with the tenderness of tears. THALABA. And wherefore hath he hidden you thus far From all the ways of human-kind? LAILA. 'Twas fear, Fatherly fear and love. He read the stars, And saw a danger in my destiny, And therefore placed me here amid the snows, And laid a spell that never human eye, If foot of man by chance should reach the depth Of this wide waste, shall see one trace of grove, Garden or dwelling-place, or yonder fire That thaws and mitigates the frozen sky. And, more than this, even if the Enemy Should come, I have a Guardian here. THALABA. A Guardian? LAILA. 'Twas well that when my sight unclosed upon thee, THALABA. Lead me to him, Lady! 14. She took him by the hand, And through the porch they past. Over the garden and the grove The fountain-streams of fire Pour'd a broad light, like noon; A broad, unnatural light, Which made the rose's blush of beauty pale, And dimm'd the rich geranium's scarlet blaze. The various verdure of the grove Wore here one undistinguishable gray, Checker'd with blacker shade. Suddenly Laila stopp'd. "I do not think thou art the enemy," I would not lead thee to thy death." 15. She turn'd her gentle eyes Toward him then with anxious tenderness. "So let him pierce my breast," cried Thalaba, "If it hide thought to harm you!" |