On This The Devil Departed From Him, But Met Him Again
As He Went Forward, Under The Semblance Of Another Friendly Person, And
Advised Him As Before Not To Go To His Father.
On this Isaac threw a
stone at the devil, and wounded him in the forehead; in remembrance of
which traditionary story it is that the people, on passing this way, are
accustomed to throw stones at the wall before going to the city.
As we
went this way, the air was in a manner darkened with prodigious
multitudes of stock doves, all, as they pretend, derived from the dove
that spoke in the ear of Mahomet, in likeness of the Holy Ghost. These
doves are seen in vast numbers in all parts about Mecca, as in the
houses, villages, inns, and granaries of corn and rice, and are so tame
that they can hardly be driven away. Indeed it is reckoned a capital
crime to kill or even take them, and there are certain funds assigned
for feeding them at the temple.
Beyond the temple there are certain parks or inclosures, in which there
are two _unicorns_ to be seen, called by the Greeks _Monocerotae_, which
are shewn to the people as miracles of nature, and not without good
reason, on account of their scarcity and strange appearance. One of
these, though much higher than the other, is not unlike a colt of thirty
months old, and has a horn in its forehead, growing straight forwards
and the length of three cubits. The other is much younger, resembling a
colt of one year old, and its horn is only four hand breadths long.
These singular animals are of a weasel chesnut colour, having a head
like that of a hart, but the neck is not near so long, with a thin mane,
hanging all to one side. The legs are thin and slender, like those of a
fawn or hind, and the hoofs are cleft much like those of a goat, the
outer parts of the hind feet being very full of hair. These animals
seemed wild and fierce yet exceedingly comely. They were sent out of
Ethiopia by a king of that country, as a rare and precious gift to the
sultan of Mecca[46].
[Footnote 46: The unicorn is an unknown, or rather a fabulous animal,
and the most charitable interpretation that can be made of the
description in the text is, that Verthema was mistaken, or that one of
the horns of some species of antelope had either been removed, or was
wanting by a lusus naturae. The only real _Monoceros_, or one horned
animal, known to naturalists, is the rhinoceros monoceros, or one-horned
rhinoceros, which bears its horn on the nose, a little way above the
muzzle, not on the forehead. - E.]
It may seem proper to mention here certain things which happened to me
at Mecca, in which may be seen the sharpness of wit in case of urgent
necessity, which according to the proverb, has no law; for I was driven
to the extent of my wits how I might contrive to escape privately from
Mecca.
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