When, Therefore, Shanfara Boasts "The
Ash-Coloured Katas Can Only Drink My Leavings, After Hastening All
Night To Slake Their
Thirst in the morning," it is a hyperbole to
express exceeding swiftness.
[FN#25] I have already, when writing upon
The subject of Sind, alluded
to this system as prevalent throughout Al-Islam, and professed, like
Mr. Lane, ignorance of its origin and object. In Huc's travels, we are
told that the Tartars worship mountain spirits by raising an "Obo,"-dry
branches hung with bones and strips of cloth, and planted in enormous
heaps of stones. Park, also, in Western Africa, conformed to the
example of his companions, in adding a charm or shred of cloth on a
tree (at the entrance of the Wilderness), which was completely covered
with these guardian symbols. And, finally, the Tarikh Tabari mentions
it as a practice of the Pagan Arabs, and talks of evil spirits residing
in the date-tree. May not, then, the practice in Al-Islam be one of the
many debris of fetish-worship which entered into the heterogeneous
formation of the Saving Faith? Some believe that the Prophet permitted
the practice, and explain the peculiar name of the expedition called
Zat al-Rika'a (place of shreds of cloth), by supposing it to be a term
for a tree to which the Moslems hung their ex-voto rags.
[FN#26] The saint lies under a little white-washed dome, springing from
a square of low walls-a form of sepulchre now common to Al-Hijaz,
Egypt, and the shores and islands of the Red Sea. As regards his name
my informants told me it was that of a Hijazi Shaykh. The subject is by
no means interesting; but the exact traveller will find the word
written Takroore, and otherwise explained by Sir Gardner Wilkinson.
[FN#27] Called by the Arabs Shih [Arabic text], which the dictionaries
translate "wormwood of Pontus." We find Wallin in his works speaking of
Ferashat al-shih, or wormwood carpets.
[FN#28] We are told in verse of "a cocoa's feathery shade," and sous
l'ombre d'un cocotier. But to realise the prose picture, let the home
reader, choosing some sultry August day, fasten a large fan to a long
pole, and enjoy himself under it.
[FN#29] On a subsequent occasion, I met a party of Panjabis, who had
walked from Meccah to Cairo in search of "Abu Tabilah," (General
Avitabile), whom report had led to the banks of the Nile. Some were
young, others had white beards-all were weary and wayworn; but the
saddest sight was an old woman, so decrepit that she could scarcely
walk. The poor fellows were travelling on foot, carrying their wallets,
with a few pence in their pockets, utterly ignorant of route and road,
and actually determined in this plight to make Lahore by Baghdad,
Bushir, and Karachi. Such-so incredible-is Indian improvidence!
[FN#30] Upon this word Cacography has done her worst-"Haji Rood" may
serve for a specimen.
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