(Remarks On Dr. Dorn’S Chrestomathy Of The Pushtu Or Afghan Language.

Trans.

Bombay As. Society, 1848.) [FN#5] See the ninth building of the Ka’abah, described in chap. iv. [FN#6] It requires not the ken of a prophet to foresee the day when political necessity—sternest of [Greek]!—will compel us to occupy in force the fountain-head of Al-Islam. [FN#7] Good acts done at Meccah are rewarded a hundred-thousand-fold in heaven; yet it is not auspicious to dwell there. Omar informs us that an evil deed receives the punishment of seventy. [FN#8] It must be remembered that my predecessor visited Meccah when the Egyptian army, commanded by Mohammed Ali, held the town. [FN#9] In another place I have ventured a few observations concerning the easy suppression of this traffic. [FN#10] The act is called “Tashrit,” or gashing. The body is also marked, but with smaller cuts, so that the child is covered with blood. Ali Bey was told by some Meccans that the face-gashes served for the purpose of phlebotomy, by others that they were signs that the scarred was the servant of Allah’s house. He attributes this male-gashing, like female-tat[t]ooing, to coquetry. The citizens told me that the custom arose from the necessity of preserving children from the kidnapping Persians, and that it is preserved as a mark of the Holy City. But its wide diffusion denotes an earlier origin. Mohammed expressly forbad his followers to mark the skin with scars. These “beauty marks” are common to the nations in the regions to the West of the Red Sea. The Barabarah of Upper Egypt adorn their faces with scars exactly like the Meccans. The Abyssinians moxa themselves in hetacombs for fashion’s sake. I have seen cheeks gashed, as in the Holy City, among the Gallas. Certain races of the Sawahil trace around the head a corona of little cuts, like those of a cupping instrument. And, to quote no other instances, some Somalis raise ghastly seams upon their chocolate-coloured skins. [FN#11] Sayrafi, money-changer; Sarraf, banker; the Indian “Shroff,” banker, money-changer, and usurer. [FN#12] When speaking of the Meccans I allude only to the section of society which fell under my observation, and that more extensive division concerning which I obtained notices that could be depended upon. [FN#13] The editor of Burckhardt’s “Travels in Arabia” supposes that his author’s “sect of light extinguishers” were probably Parsees from Surat or Bombay. The mistake is truly ludicrous, for no pious Parsee will extinguish a light. Moreover, infidels are not allowed by law to pass the frontiers of the Sanctuary. The sect alluded to is an obscure heresy in Central Asia; and concerning it the most improbable scandals have been propagated by the orthodox. [FN#14] It is strange how travellers and linguists differ upon the subject of Arabic and its dialects. Niebuhr compares their relation to that of Provençal, Spanish, and Italian, whereas Lane declares the dialects to resemble each other more than those of some different counties in England. Herbin (Grammar) draws a broad line between ancient and modern Arabic; but Hochst (Nachrichten von Marokos und Fez) asserts that the difference is not so great as is imagined. Perhaps the soundest opinion is that proposed by Clodius, in his “Arabic Grammar”: “dialectus Arabum vulgaris tantum differt ab erudita, quantum Isocrates dictio ab hodierna lingua Græca.” But it must be remembered that the Arabs divide their spoken and even written language into two orders, the “Kalam Wati,” or vulgar tongue, sometimes employed in epistolary correspondence, and the “Nahwi,” or grammatical and classical language. Every man of education uses the former, and can use the latter. And the Koran is no more a model of Arabic (as it is often assumed to be) than “Paradise Lost” is of English. Inimitable, no man imitates them. [FN#15] Safi Ullah—Adam. [FN#16] The legend that Abraham was the “Son of Fire” might have arisen from his birthplace, Ur of the Chaldees. This Ur (whence the Latin uro) becomes in Persian Hir; in Arabic Irr or Arr. It explains the origin of “Orotalt” better than by means of “Allahu Ta’ala.” This word, variously spelt Ourotalt, Orotalt, and Orotal (the latter would be the masculine form in Arabic), is Urrat-ilat, or the goddess of fire, most probably the Sun (Al-Shams) which the Semites make a feminine. 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.

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