Dr. DoR^''s Description of an Arabic Celestial Globe. S79 



called Xr^'J' ^_r.\: , the pivot of the mill; on this globe, however, there appear 

 only eiglit. The seven stars lying within are called ^/^\ ^J^ju (.uIj , the 

 lesser Benat-nash, or Daughters of the Bier ; which name they bear on 

 account of their being compared by the Arabs to mourning daughters, or 

 females preceding a bier : the bier being formed by the four stars in the 

 belly, and the daughters by the three in the tail of the animal. The star 

 at the extremity of the tail, which is supposed to point out the direction of 

 the Kebla, is called ^fi^l , the Kitten ; in the vicinity of which there is a 

 hole made in the globe, representing the north pole, which is denoted by 

 the words adjoining, i^^UjJI t-JoiJl the north pole. Ebn Mahommed Sherif 



says, Jl«.iJ^ u-JaJill ^ t/-*^' '-t-~^ {J^ Wy .J^^ ll}\x> ^^-01=^ li ls'^\ Ufcjs=-I 

 " One of tiie two stars which lies at the side of the Benat-nash, near 

 the Kitten, is the north pole." The two bright stars in the bier p , y , are 

 called ^J.^iiJ^^ the two Calves, from jJyll the calf. Hariri compares bright 



eyes to these two stars, see Makama 7 '• Vlr' ^^^ ''^•^j^ ^J\)} ^^-V./ ■*^' (^ 

 (^Ijjyll U^l^ ^^•^. ^} " He then opened his two noble (eyes) and looked 

 about 'with his two twins, so that the two lights of his face sparkled, as 

 though they were the two Calves." 



2. jSi\ OjJ! The Greater Bear. 

 A'fXTo? AtEyaM) Arctos, Ursa Major. 

 The constellation of the Greater Bear was known in the remotest ages 

 of antiquity, and is mentioned in the book of Job by tlie name of li-y, the 

 Bear ; the three stars in the tail being denominated n''J3, its sons: see chap, 

 ix. 9 ; and xxxviii, 32. This explanation of the word tv is also con- 

 firmed by the learned Rabbin Aben Esra, who was deeply versed in astro- 

 nomy, and interprets t'V by the more common noun ^l j the bear. The 

 following stars are pointed out by name on the globe : Uill , the Ghazels, 

 comprising those on the eyes, eyebrows, ears, and mouth ; their young 

 ones V^W SIj] (wliich, on the Borgian globe, is written bjiUj Uill , the 

 ghazels and their young) lying between the fore and hind feet, and 

 amounting, according to Kazvini, to the number of six. Three other 

 names of stars referring to ghazels, are Jiji\ i^isll, the first leap, on the 

 right hind-foot ; Ljbl\ 'ijas-W , the second leap, on the right fore-foot ; and 

 Ail'ill >jisl\ , the third leap, on the left fore-foot. The four bright stars in 

 the belly, making a square, are termed ^xj , a bier. '1 izini gives four 



