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Fishes of the same colour are mentioned in the Arabian Nights; and, like these, were endowed with the gift of speech.
123. ... waving streamers on which were inscribed the names of Allah and the Prophet The position that “there is no God but God, and Mahomet is his Prophet,” pervades every part of the Mahometan religion. Banners, like those here described, are preserved in the several mosques; and, on the death of extraordinary persons, are borne before the bier in solemn state.—Religious Ceremonies, vol. vii, pp. 119, 120.
124. ... astrolabes The mention of the astrolabe may be deemed incompatible, at first view, with chronological exactness, as there is no instance of any being constructed by a Mussulman, till after the time of Vathek. It may, however, be remarked, to go no higher, that Sinesius, bishop of Ptolemais, invented one in the fifth century; and that Carathis was not only herself a Greek, but also cultivated those sciences which the good Mussulmans of her time all held in abhorrence.—Bailly, Hist. de l’Astronom. Moderne, tom, i, pp. 563, 573.
125. On the banks of the stream, hives and oratories The bee is an insect held in high veneration amongst the Mahometans, it being pointed out in the Koran, “for a sign unto the people that understand.” It has been said, in the same sense, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard.”—Proverbs, vi, 6. The santons, therefore, who inhabit the fertile banks of Rocnabad, are not less famous for their hives than their oratories.—D’Herbelot, p. 717.
126. ... sheiks ... cadis Sheiks are the chiefs of the societies of dervishes; cadis are the magistrates of a town or city.
127. Asses in bridles of riband inscribed from the Koran As the judges of Israel in ancient days rode on white asses, so, amongst the Mahometans, those that affect an extraordinary sanctity use the same animal in preference to the horse. Sir John Chardin observed, in various parts of the East, that their reins, as here represented, were of silk, with the name of God, or other inscriptions, upon them.—Ludeke, Expos. brevis, p. 49. Chardin’s MS. cited by Harmer.
128. One of these beneficent genii, assuming the exterior of a shepherd, etc., began to pour from his flute, etc. The flute was considered as a sacred instrument, which Jacob and other holy shepherds had sanctified by using.—Religious Ceremonies, vol. vii, p. 110.
129. ... involuntarily drawn towards the declivity of the hill A similar instance of attraction may be seen in the Story of Prince Ahmed and the Peri Parabanou.—Arabian Nights, vol. iv, p. 243.
130. Eblis D’Herbelot supposes this title to have been a corruption of the Greek Διαβολος, diabolos. It was the appellation conferred by the Arabians upon the prince of the apostate angels, whom they represent as exiled to the infernal regions, for refusing to worship Adam at the command of the Supreme, and appears more likely to originate from the Hebrew הבל hebel, vanity, pride.—See below, the note, p. 305, “Creatures of clay.”
131. ... compensate for thy impieties by an exemplary life It is an established article of the Mussulman creed, that the actions of mankind are all weighed in a vast unerring balance, and the future condition of the agents determined according to the preponderance of evil or good. This fiction, which seems to have been borrowed from the Jews, had probably its origin in the figurative language of Scripture. Thus, Psalm lxii, 9: “Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity”; and in Daniel, the sentence against the King of Babylon, inscribed on the wall, “Thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting.”
132. Balkis This was the Arabian name of the Queen of Sheba, who went from the south to hear the wisdom and admire the glory of Solomon. The Koran represents her as a worshipper of fire. Solomon is said not only to have entertained her with the greatest magnificence, but also to have raised her to his bed and his throne.—Al Koran, ch. xxvii, and Sale’s notes. D’Herbelot, p. 182.
133. The pavement, strewed over with saffron There are several circumstances in the Story of the Third Calender, that resemble those here mentioned; particularly a pavement strewed with saffron, and the burning of ambergris and aloes-wood.
134. Ouranbad This monster is represented as a fierce-flying hydra, and belongs to the same class with the rakshe, whose ordinary food was serpents and dragons; the soham, which had the head of a horse, with four eyes, and the body of a flame-coloured dragon; the syl, a basilisk with a face resembling the human, but so tremendous that no mortal could bear to behold it; the ejder, and others. See these respective titles in Richardson’s Persian, Arabic, and English Dictionary.
135. Creatures of clay Nothing could have been more appositely imagined than this compellation. Eblis, according to Arabian mythology, had suffered a degradation from his primeval rank, and was consigned to these regions, for having refused to worship Adam in obedience to the supreme command; alleging, in justification of his refusal, that himself had been formed of ethereal fire, whilst Adam was only a creature of clay.—Al Koran, c. lv, etc.
136. ... the fortress of Aherman In the mythology of the Easterns, Aherman was accounted the Demon of Discord. The ancient Persian romances abound in descriptions of this fortress, in which the inferior demons assemble, to receive the behests of their prince; and from whom they proceed to exercise their malice in every part of the world.—D’Herbelot, p. 71.
137. ... the halls of Argenk The halls of this mighty dive, who reigned in the mountains of Kaf, contained the statues of the seventy-two Solimans, and the portraits of the various creatures subject to them; not one of which bore the slightest similitude to man. Some had many heads, others many arms, and some consisted of many bodies. Their heads were all very extraordinary, some resembling the elephant’s, the buffalo’s, and the boar’s; whilst others were still more monstrous.—D’Herbelot, p. 820. Some of the idols worshipped to this day in Hindostan answer to this description.
138. ... holding his right hand, motionless, on his heart Sandys observes that the application of the right hand to the heart is the customary mode of Eastern salutation; but the perseverance of the votaries of Eblis in this attitude was intended to express their devotion to him both heart and hand.
139. In my lifetime I filled, etc. This recital agrees perfectly with those in the Koran, and other Arabian legends.
140. ... an unrelenting fire preys on my heart Hariri, to convey the most forcible idea of extreme anxiety, represents the heart as tormented by fierce burning coals. This form of speech, it is observed, is proverbial; but do we not see whence the proverb arose?—Chappelow’s Six