We Have
No English Word For This Proceeding; But Anglo-Oriental Travellers Are
Rapidly Naturalising The "Nakh."
[FN#20] There are many qualifications necessary for an Imam-a leader of
prayer; the first condition, of course, is orthodoxy.
[FN#21] "The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night,"
(Psalm cxxi.
6). Easterns still believe firmly in the evil effects of
moonlight upon the human frame,-from Sind to Abyssinia, the traveller
will hear tales of wonder concerning it.
[FN#22] The Dum i Gurg, or wolf's tail, is the Persian name for the
first brushes of grey light which appear as forerunners of dawn.
[FN#23] Dar al-Bayda is a palace belonging to H.H. Abbas Pasha. This
"white house" was formerly called the "red house," I believe from the
colour of its windows,-but the name was changed, as being not
particularly good-omened.
[FN#24] The Tetrao Kata or sand-grouse, (Pterocles melanogaster; in
Sind called the rock pigeon), is a fast-flying bird, not unlike a grey
partridge whilst upon the wing. 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.
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