Forbiggen Translates
It Sonnen-Gott, An Error Of Gender, As The Final Consonant Proves.
The
other deity of pagan Arabia, Alilat, is clearly Al-Lat.
May not the
Phoenicians have supplied the word “Irr,” which still survives in Erin and
in Ireland? even so they gave to the world the name of Britain,
Brettainke, Barrat et Tanuki ([Arabic lettering]), the land of tin. And
I should more readily believe that Eeran is the land of fire, than
accept its derivation from Eer (vir) a man.
[FN#17] Captain C. F. Head, author of “Eastern and Egyptian Scenery,” was,
as late as A.D. 1829, pelted by the Badawin, because he passed the
Eastern gate of Jeddah in a Frankish dress.
[FN#18] The best way would be to rush, if possible, into a house; and
the owner would then, for his own interest, as well as honour, defend a
stranger till assistance could be procured.
[FN#19] Future pilgrims must also remember that the season is gradually
receding towards the heart of the hot weather. For the next fifteen
years, therefore, an additional risk will attend the traveller.
[FN#20] Pliny is certainly right about this useful quadruped and its
congeners, the zebra and the wild ass, in describing it as “animal
frigoris maxime impatiens.” It degenerates in cold regions, unless, as in
Afghanistan and Barbary, there be a long, hot, and dry summer. Aden,
Cutch, and Baghdad have fine breeds, whereas those of India and
South-Eastern Africa are poor and weak. The best and the highest-priced
come from the Maghrib, and second to them ranks the Egyptian race. At
Meccah careful feeding and kind usage transform the dull slave into an
active and symmetrical friend of man: he knows his owner’s kind voice,
and if one of the two fast, it is generally the biped. The asses of the
Holy City are tall and plump, with sleek coats, generally ash or
grey-coloured, the eyes of deer, heads gracefully carried, an ambling
gait, and extremely sure-footed. They are equal to great fatigue, and
the stallions have been known, in their ferocity, to kill the groom.
The price varies from 25 to 150 dollars.
[FN#21] Such is the popular version of the tale, which differs in some
points from that recorded in books. Others declare that here, in days
gone by, stood the house of another notorious malignant, Abu Jahl.
Some, again, suppose that in this place a tyrannical governor of Meccah
was summarily “lynched” by the indignant populace. The first two
traditions, however, are the favourites, the vulgar—citizens, as well as
pilgrims—loving to connect such places with the events of their early
sacred history. Even in the twelfth century we read that pilgrims used
to cast stones at two cairns, covering the remains of Abu Lahab, and
the beautiful termagant, his wife.
[FN#22] Certain credulous authors have contrasted these heaps with the
clear ground at Muna, for the purpose of a minor miracle.
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