As The Sun Starts Towards The West, Falling Harmlessly Upon Our Heads,
We Arise, Still Faint And Dizzy, Calling For Water-Which Before We Had
Not The Strength
[P.211] to drink-and pipes, and coffee, and similar luxuries.
Our
primitive kitchen is a square wooden box, lined with clay, and filled
with sand, upon which three or four large stones are placed to form a
hearth. Preparations are now made for the evening meal, which is of the
simplest description. A little rice, a few dates, or an onion, will
keep a man alive in our position; a single "good dinner" would justify
long odds against his seeing the next evening. Moreover, it is
impossible in such cases to have an appetite-fortunately, as our store
of provisions is a scanty one. Arabs consider it desirable on a journey
to eat hot food once in the twenty-four hours; so we determine to cook,
despite all difficulties. The operation, however, is by no means
satisfactory; twenty expectants surround the single fire, and there is
sure to be a quarrel amongst them every five minutes.
As the breeze, cooled by the dew, begins to fan our parched faces, we
recover our spirits amazingly. Songs are sung; tales are told; and
rough jests are bandied about till, not unfrequently, Oriental
sensitiveness is sorely tried. Or, if we see the prospect of storm or
calm, we draw forth, and piously peruse, a "Hizb al-Bahr." As this
prayer is supposed to make all safe upon the ocean wave, I will not
selfishly withhold it from the British reader. To draw forth all its
virtues, the reciter should receive it from the hands of his Murshid or
spiritual guide, and study it during the Chillah, or forty days of
fast, of which, I venture to observe, few Sons of Bull are capable.
"O Allah, O Exalted, O Almighty, O All-pitiful, O All-powerful, Thou
art my God, and sufficeth to me the knowledge of it! Glorified be the
Lord my Lord, and glorified be the Faith my Faith! Thou givest Victory
to whom Thou pleasest, and Thou art the Glorious, the Merciful! We pray
Thee for Safety in our goings forth and our standings still, in our
Words and our Designs, in our
[p.212] Dangers of Temptation and Doubt, and the secret Designs of our
Hearts. Subject unto us this Sea, even as Thou didst subject the Deep
to Musa" (Moses), "and as Thou didst subject the Fire to Ibrahim[FN#6]"
(Abraham), "and as Thou didst subject the Iron to Daud[FN#7]" (David),
"and as Thou didst subject the Wind and the Devils and Jinnis and
Mankind to Sulayman[FN#8]" (Solomon), "and as Thou didst subject the
Moon and Al-Burak to Mohammed, upon whom be Allah's Mercy and His
Blessing! And subject unto us all the Seas in Earth and Heaven, in Thy
visible and in Thine invisible Worlds, the Sea of this Life, and the
Sea of Futurity.
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