Page 7. The shawl-goat of Tibet. See Turner's Embassy for a description of this animal, "the most beautiful among the whole tribe of goats." The material for the shawls (which is carried to Cashmere) is found next the skin. Page 7. The veiled Prophet of Khorassan. For the real history of this Impostor, whose original name was Hakem ben Haschem, and who was called Mocanna from the veil of silver gauze (or, as others say, golden) which he always wore, v. D'Herbelot. Page 9. Flowrets and fruits blush over every stream. "The fruits of Meru are finer than those of any other place; and one cannot see in any other city such palaces, with groves, and streams, and gardens."- Ebn Haukal's Geography. Page 10. For far less luminous, his votaries said, O'er Moussa's cheek. "Ses disciples assuroient qu'il se couvroit le visage, pour ne pas éblouir ceux qui l'approchoit par l'éclat de son visage comme Moyse." - D'Herbelot. Page 10. In hatred to the Caliph's hue of night. "Il faut remarquer ici touchant les habits blancs des 66 disciples de Hakem, que la couleur des habits, des cöeffures et des étendarts des Khalifes Abassides etant la noire, ce chef de Rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir une, qui lui fût plus opposée."-D'Herbelot. Page 11. Javelins of the light Khathaian reed. "Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, slender and delicate." — Poem of Amru. Page 11. Filled with the stems that bloom on Iran's rivers. The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it. — Nothing can be more beautiful than the appearance of this plant in flower during the rains on the banks of rivers, where it is usually interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias." Sir W. Jones, Botanical Observations on Select Indian Plants. Page 11. Like a chenar-tree grove. The oriental plane. "The chenar is a delightful tree; its bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; and its foliage, which grows in a tuft at the summit, is of a bright green." -Morier's Travels. Page 13. hue and race, With turban'd heads of every Bowing before that veil'd and awful face, Like tulip-beds “The name of tulip is said to be of Turkish extraction, and given to the flower on account of its resembling a turban." Beckmann's History of Inventions. Page 13. With belt of broider'd crape, And fur-bound bonnet of Bucharian shape. "The inhabitants of Bucharia wear a round cloth bonnet, shaped much after the Polish fashion, having a large fur border. They tie their kaftans about the middle with a girdle of a kind of silk crape, several times round the body." -Account of Independent Tartary, in Pinkerton's Col lection. Page 13. Wav'd, like the wings of the white birds that fan This wonderful Throne was called The Star of the Genii. For a full description of it, see the Fragment, translated by Captain Franklin, from a Persian MS. entitled "The History of Jerusalem :". Oriental Collections, vol. i. p. 235.— When Solomon, travelled, the eastern writers say, "he had a carpet of green silk on which his throne was placed, being of a prodigious length and breadth, and sufficient for all his forces to stand upon, the men placing themselves on his right hand and the spirits on his left; and that when all were in order, the wind, at his command, took up the carpet, and transported it, with all that were upon it, wherever he pleased; the army of birds at the same time flying over their heads, and forming a kind of canopy to shade them from the sun." Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 214. note. Page 16. and thence descending flow'd Through many a Prophet's breast. This is according to D'Herbelot's account of the doctrines of Mokanna: :- "Sa doctrine étoit que Dieu avoit pris une forme et figure humaine depuis qu'il eut commandé aux Anges d'adorer Adam, le premier des hommes. Qu'après la mort d'Adam, Dieu étoit apparu sous la figure de plusieurs Prophetes, et autres grands hommes qu'il avoit choisis, jusqu'à ce qu'il prît celle d'Abu Moslem, Prince de Khorassan, lequel professoit l'erreur de la Tenassukhiah ou Metempschychose; et qu' après la mort de ce Prince, la Divinité étoit passée, et descendue en sa personne.” Page 34. Such Gods as he, Whom India serves, the monkey Deity. "Apes are in many parts of India highly venerated, out of respect to the God Hannaman, a deity partaking of the form of that race." - Pennant's Hindoostan. See a curious account in Stephen's Persia of a solemn embassy from some part of the Indies to Goa, when the Portuguese were there, offering vast treasures for the recóvery of a monkey's tooth, which they held in great veneration, and which had been taken away upon the conquest of the kingdom of Jafanapatan. Page 34. Where none but priests are privileged to trade The material of which images of Gaudma (the Birman Deity) is made, is held sacred. "Birmans may not pur chase the marble in mass, but are suffered, and indeed encouraged, to buy figures of the Deity ready made.”. Symes's Ava, vol. ii. p. 376. Page 34. -proud things of clay, To whom if Lucifer, as grandams say, This resolution of Eblis not to acknowledge the new creature, man, was, according to Mahometan tradition, thus adopted :— "The earth (which God had selected for the materials of his work) was carried into Arabia, to a place between Mecca and Tayef, where, being first kneaded by the Angels, it was afterwards fashioned by God himself into a human form, and left to dry for the space of forty days, or, as others say, as many years; the angels, in the mean time, often visiting it, and Eblis (then one of the angels nearest to God's presence, afterwards the devil) among the rest; but he, not contented with looking at it, kicked it with his foot till it rung, and knowing God designed that creature to be his superior, took a secret resolution never to acknowledge him as such." the Koran. Page 44. The puny bird that dares, with teazing hum, Sale on The humming-bird is said to run this risk for the purpose of picking the crocodile's teeth. The same circumstance is |