6go THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



on this point were soon settled by the famous circular of Dr. Reidor, 

 to whom the Tripolitan Government had intrusted the publication of 

 the Hakim's chronicle. As the preliminary account of the Anabasis 

 through the Soodan waddies (sufficiently known from the writings of 

 Barth and Burton) is little more than a collection of military march 

 reports, it has not been included in the second edition of Dr. Reidor's 

 translation, and the present brief summary will suffice for the explana- 

 tion of subsequent events. 



But the chronicle itself is a work of quite a different character, and 

 at once attracted the attention of the scientific public. Its general 

 interest may be inferred from the success of the German * and Span- 

 ish f editions, though the speculative portion of the original has been 

 partly omitted in both works, and, strangely enough, especially in the 

 German version, whose (Austrian) expurgators have found it neces- 

 sary to suppress the most interesting political and ethical reflections. 

 I shall offer no apology for having restored those passages. From 

 European prejudices the author of the " Chronicle " is as free as Hafiz 

 Ben Eddin, but his work is certainly not immoral, and can be called 

 irreligious only where that word has not yet ceased to be a synonym 

 of truth-loving. The commentaries of the Spanish translator have 

 greatly aided me in the exegesis of the Mauritanian idioms ; but, 

 where a literal translation would fail to elucidate the ambiguity of 

 certain topographical terms, I have thought it safer to retain the 

 nomenclature of the Arabian text. f. l. o. 



THE CHRONICLE OF HAKIM BEN SHEYTAN, 

 TOE SERVANT OF ALLAH. 



CHAPTER I. 



In the Name of the All-merciful, etc., Adna- Mullah Ion Saddi: To my Father, 



Greeting and Peace. 



Not now, Namullah, nor in weeks of speech and free discourse, 

 could I recount all the hardships of our journey since we parted at 

 El Kamr. And yet I praise the lord, and through these, and twice 

 as many dangers I would go again, for all the wonders he has thus 

 revealed, and for the ever-memorable manifestations of his judgment 

 upon the impious who violate the laws of his Word, the laws which 

 Nature has proclaimed even to the heathens. 



The death of Abu Riyah you will have learned from the pasha's 

 report, as well as the fate of Sheik Hanbal's companions ; and I will 

 begin my relation from the Alms-week of the New Year (February 



* " Die Wunder des Mond-Gebirgcs. Von Prof. D. P.. Widerleger." 2 vols., sq. 8vo. 

 "Vienna, 1881. 



f " Las Aventuras de Hakim Ben Sheytan. Por el Dr. S. L. Reidor." 2 da edicion. 

 8vo. Salamanca. 1S81. 



