24* Some Birds and other animals that have been metamor- 

 phosed [being an extract from the KitTihiiU-Jam- 

 fiavaJiJi HlniVl'Ba^yavah^^ an Arabic manuscript^ 

 No- S65^ in the Library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal]. 



By LiEUT.-CoLONEL D, C, PfiiLLOTT and Mr. R. P, Azoo. 



Amongst traditions handed down to us from trustworthy 



sources is one that the Prophet (on whom be the Peace and 



Blessing of God) once said : " The metamorphosed beings in this 



world are seven hundred, and these rebelled against the Vicars 



of the Prophets after the death of the latter. Four hundred of 



them took to the land and three hundred to the sea," He then 



repeated this sacred verse : " And we made them the subject of 



stories and we scattered them utterly."^ Of them, too, a poet has 

 said :^ 



*' Those that opposed the Guides in i^ligion were changed on 

 the spot and were utterly scattered." 



Muhammad, son of Ahu Hbd* 'Uah, has rein ted to us on tlie 



authority of Muhammad son of Ahmady who heard it from Muham- 



€ 



H 



ait^ the son of Al-Humyn, the son of Mi^ the son of Ahu TSlib 

 (peace be on them) that he {HH) said: *' The Apostle of God 

 (blessings on Him and on his Family and on his Companionfl) once 

 said, * The metamorphosed beings that people can see and have 

 seen are nineteen. These are, the elephant, the bear, the scorpion, 

 the * spiny-tailed lizard'^ {?(^bb)^ the spider, the du^mus^ the 

 eel, the swallow {walical^)^ the pig, Venus, Canopus, the ape. 



A This work is in two volnraes, of which only the second is io the 

 Lihrary of the Asiatic Society. The name of the author is not given, nor is 

 the work mentioned in Brockelmann or in Hdjl Ki^nlfa. From the colophon at 

 the eud of the volume it appears that the book was written in 797 A.U. (1394 

 A.D.). This is followed by these words: " May God for^iye the own#^r who 



helped in the composition of it," from which it appears that the MS, was the 

 author's original copy. 



2 Quran, Chapter XXXIV., Verse 18. 



3 The spiny-tailed lizard {Uromastix) canght and eaten by the Arabs as 

 well as by certain tribes of India. The flesh is white and rich/and in ap- 



pearance resembles chicken's flesh. The verb i^j^ sig 

 lizard. 



* The o^*'*^ du'wittf is probably the mopquito larva. 



Arab authors as * a worm with two hpads lx\'iiig in stagnant water/ 



6 The plural word ahSbil^ primarily meaning in Arabic, *' flocks of birdfl," 



is the name of the '' birds " (metaphorically emall-poi) that attacked thft army 



X%f 18 deFcrlbed by 



