"Ont armes corases de cuir de bufal, et ont lances et scuz et ont
balestres."]
There is some analogy also to the story Polo tells, in the curious Sindhi
tradition, related by Burton, of Baha-ul-hakk, the famous saint of Multan.
When he visited his disciples at Tatta they plotted his death, in order to
secure the blessings of his perpetual presence. The people of Multan are
said to have murdered two celebrated saints with the same view, and the
Hazaras to "make a point of killing and burying in their own country any
stranger indiscreet enough to commit a miracle or show any particular sign
of sanctity." The like practice is ascribed to the rude Moslem of Gilghit;
and such allegations must have been current in Europe, for they are the
motive of Southey's St. Romuald:
"'But,' quoth the Traveller, 'wherefore did he leave
A flock that knew his saintly worth so well?'
"'Why, Sir,' the Host replied,
'We thought perhaps that he might one day leave us;
And then, should strangers have
The good man's grave,
A loss like that would naturally grieve us;
For he'll be made a saint of, to be sure.
Therefore we thought it prudent to secure
His relics while we might;
And so we meant to strangle him one night.'"
(See Sindh, pp. 86, 388; Ind. Antiq. I. 13; Southey's Ballads,
etc., ed. Routledge, p. 330.)
[Captain Gill (I. p. 323) says that he had made up his mind to visit a
place called Li-fan Fu, near Ch'eng-tu.
