Translation from the Arabic. 249 



seemed to the writer only a natural exercise of patience. How light would 

 our burdens have seemed in his eyes, how measureless our civil liberty !] 



The Khalifate of El Hhakem, by command of God ; 

 father of Ali Mansur. 



He was in the opening of his days good and wise. He ordered the Christ- 

 ians to dress in blue, and the Jews in yellow ; and forbad them to ride on 

 horses and mules. And he appointed for them separate baths, and made cru- 

 cifixes thereon. And upon every church, he set a chapel at its top, with 

 a Mohammedan* crier in it. But as he grew older, he changed from all this, 

 and became devoted to the stars, and commanded things which made men 

 laugh at him. Of this kind is it, that he passed one day by the Baths of 

 Gold, and heard therein the clamour of women ; whereupon he gave command 

 to block them in, so they blocked them in until they all died. He also or- 

 dered to pull down the Church of the Resurrection, and to plunder every 

 thing in it : so it was pulled down and plundered. Afterwards he ordered to 

 restore it as it had been. He farther forbad any one to sell raisins ; and 

 next, forbad eating them : at last, he ordered to burn them in all the coun- 

 ties of Egypt and of Syria. Next, he gave orders to burn the grapes ; and 

 after that, to cut down all the vines. So all the vines were cut down in 

 Egypt and in Syria, until there remained not a vine in Syria and in Egypt. 

 After this, he commanded to kill the dogs ; and there were killed in the 

 towns of Egypt thirty thousand dogs. Then he commanded to empty out 

 the honey ; and men poured away twelve thousand jars. Then he forbad 

 men to cook the mallows, and next, to sow the ground at all : and he hung 

 all, in whose houses seed was found. Next, he forbad the sale of beans 

 and lupins, and of the smooth fish ; as likewise of meat and beer ; and 

 gave orders to hang whoever did it. And he hung a great many for this 

 offence. 



He would dress in woollen, and ride upon an ass, and patrol in the 

 streets alone, without guards : and one night, as he went out on his pa- 

 trolling, he was killed; and it was not known who killed him. Only they 

 found his things with him, and his ass. 



And in his days there appeared in Damietta an enormous fish. Its 

 length was two hundred and sixty cubits, and its breadth a hundred ribs. 

 And salt-asses went into the cavity of its belly, laden with salt, and came 

 out laden with fat. And five men with iron hoes lived in his skull, to pick 

 at his cheeks ; and handed it out to the rest of the multitude. And the 

 people of Damietta continued to feed upon him for many months. 



El Hliiikem was young, when he succeeded to the Khalifate, and he 

 committed the administration of his kingdom to a servant of his father's 



* Such appears to be the sense ; but in our text is a word which we do not un- 

 derstand . 



No. 5 —Vol. I. 2 L* 



