Chap. V.) The Only Mistake The
Traveller Seems To Have Committed, Was That, By His Ignorance Of The
Rules Of
Ablution, he made men agree that he was “no sainct, but a madman.”
[FN#6] He proceeds, however, to say
That “the head is lyke a hart’s,” the
“legges thynne and slender, lyke a fawne or hyde, the hoofs divided much
like the feet of a goat”; that they were sent from Ethiopia (the Somali
country), and were “shewed to the people for a myracle.” They might,
therefore, possibly have been African antelopes, which a lusus naturæ had
deprived of their second horn. But the suspicion of fable remains.
[FN#7] This is a tale not unfamiliar to the Western World. Louis XI. of
France was supposed to drink the blood of babes,—“pour rajeunir sa veine
epuisee.” The reasons in favour of such unnatural diet have been fully
explained by the infamous M. de Sade.
[FN#8] This is, to the present day, a food confined to the Badawin.
[FN#9] This alludes to the gardens of Kuba. The number of date-trees is
now greatly increased. (See chap. xix.)
[FN#10] The Ayn al-Zarka, flowing from the direction of Kuba. (Chap.
xviii).
[FN#11] Masjid, a Mosque.
[FN#12] Nothing can to more correct than this part of Bartema’s
description.
[FN#13] Nabi (the Prophet), Abu Bakr, Osman, Omar, and Fatimah. It was
never believed that Osman was buried in the Prophet’s Mosque. This part
of the description is utterly incorrect.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 453 of 630
Words from 123610 to 123866
of 175520
