ANTIQUITY OF TOBACCO-SMOKING loi 



tobacco-pipe charged with the comforting herb, and Satan, 

 envious of his happiness, urged the patriarch to prolong the 

 indulgence until sleep fell upon his eyes. Where the soil is 

 ready for the seed the merest figment takes root and 

 flourishes abundantly. 



Persons of a poetic temperament who find in speculative 

 dreaming pleasure more satisfying than aught they can 

 derive from the study of prosaic reality, usually turn their 

 thoughts towards the East, to the land of mystery and 

 gorgeous imagery, where man first awoke to a wondering 

 contemplation of the phenomena of nature, asking himself 

 what the earth and sky could be, and marking out in bold 

 outline as he gazed into the star-lit firmament the signs by 

 which we to-day recognise the zodiac. Entering these 

 regions of hoary tradition, the marvel-loving wanderer from 

 the West finds his path strewn with relics of our early 

 progenitors ; here he may revel in endless variety of 

 legendary lore garnered from rich fields of poetic fancy- 

 Does he wish to learn of the Moslem sage the origin of the 

 weed whose balmy breath 



From East to West 

 Cheers the tar's labour, or the Turkman's rest ? 



Let him listen to his words as he relates how the Prophet, 

 walking in his garden at early dawn, came upon a viper stiff 

 with cold, lying in the grass. ' Full of compassion, he took 

 it up and warmed it in his bosom ; but when the reptile 

 recovered, it bit him. " Why art thou thus ungrateful ? ' 

 asked the Prophet. The viper answered : " Were I to 

 spare thee, another of thy race would kill me, for there is 

 no gratitude on earth. By Allah, I will bite thee." " Since 

 thou hast sworn by Allah, keep thy vow," said the Prophet, 

 and held out his hand to be bitten. But as the reptile bit 



