MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 967 



Swimming ashore with it in his claws. In gratitude the saint blessed the crab 

 and the crustacean was rewarded by being destined to carry the sacred symbol 

 on his carapace ever afterwards. 



Very recently a venerable Syed by name Syed Mohidin held in 

 much esteem by his brethren, visited the museum carrying with him a 

 curious box covered over with a green cloth embroidered with verses from the 

 Quran. He approached us with great reverence and very ceremoniously unveiled 

 the precious casket which was adorned with further inscriptions in brass. The 

 casket being opened with great care revealed a glass jar containing a specimen 

 of a fish. We were rather non-plussed as to the meaning of the ceremony and 

 devotion attached to what at first appeared to us an ordinary specimen of 

 Hotocanthus nicobariensis, a fish which is not uncommon in Indian waters and 

 occurs from the coast of Africa to the Malay Archipelago. The Syed, however 

 proceeded to enlighten us as to the exceeding value and sacred character of his 

 specimen, The markings on the tail of the fish, which to us convej^ed nothing 

 unusual beyond the fact that they bore a resemblance to Arabic script, were 

 held by the Syed to convey a far deeper meaning, and actually portrayed sacred 

 texts from the Quran. The markings on one side of the tail were stated by him 

 to read '^ Fathahna-le-7iabi-in '" which being interpreted means " success 

 IS GIVEN TO THE PROPHET. " While OH the reverse the inscription was 

 said to read " Bismillah " " T am beginning wiih the name of God." 

 The specimen was obtained by the Syed in Vizagapatam in the Madras 

 Presidency, and he attested that the authenticity of his reading was vouched 

 for bjf the Ulemas of Hyderabad, Deccau. The actual specimen was sent 

 by us to the Professor of Arabic at St. Xavier's College who stated that 

 the characters were not very clear but that they could be construed to read 

 in accordance -with, the inscriptions above quoted. In this connection it is inter- 

 esting to state that a similar specimen was obtained from Zanzibar by a fisher- 

 man. It was bought for food but the purchaser while preparing it for cooking 

 noticed that the tail bore marks of writing. " The Ceylon Independent " in its 

 account of the incident stated " To his utter amazement the purchaser read 

 the Arabic words " La-Ilaha Illallah " on one side of the fin and " Shah 

 Allah " on the other. The first inscription meaning " There is no deity but 

 Allah," the second " The Majesty of Allah. " This specimen is reported to have 

 been examined by experts. The markings were said to have been quite promi- 

 nent and chemicals were used to test whether they were natural or not and after 

 a thorough examination it was definitely established that the inscription on the 

 fin was natural. The Sj-ed is prepared to dispose of tliis wonderful specimen for 

 the best offer. 



Bo. N. H. S. Museum, B. C. ELLISON. 



May 1921. S. H. PRATER. 



