674 Report on Skoa [No. 140. 



length informed against by one of his malicious fraternity, he was by 

 means of a strong spell exposed in the fact, and ordered to instant 

 death. " Grant me but my life," he exclaimed, "and I will explain to 

 your Majesty this grand master-stroke of my powerful art." The 

 curiosity of the monarch was excited, and a large vessel of water 

 which had been requested was set before the magician. Placing his 

 hand in the liquid, he addressed the king : " Oh descendant of the race 

 of Solomon, the wit of thy illustrious father is dull in comparison with 

 the wisdom of the meanest disciples of Arobal, I defy thy myrmidons 

 and thyself," and cleaving the air as he uttered these words, instantane- 

 ously disappeared from the gaze of the astounded and crest-fallen court. 



156. Arobal Mammoo, the king of the Genis, is supposed to reside 

 in the depths of the large lake in Mans, called Moofat Wuha. In the 

 bosom of its placid water his palace is placed, constructed of the usuaL 

 fairy materials ; coloured cloths abound in every apartment, and his 

 drums are heard pealing from the centre of the lake, when famine, war 

 or pestilence is about to visit the land. Any one desirous of studying the 

 black art after destroying his mahtab, (the badge of Christianity,) and 

 treating the emblem of faith with certain irreverences, proceeds into the 

 depths of the waters, is met by the genius, and kindly instructed in the 

 arts of magic and necromancy ; after a laspe of time he resumes his blue 

 silk cord and is suffered for a time to exercise his supernatural power 

 upon earth, but his knowledge gradually decays, it cannot be resumed, 

 and the sorcerer again sinks into the uninteresting character of an 

 Abyssinian Christian, without even the usual conclusion of having lost 

 his soul, or being in the end carried away in the talons of the foul 

 fiend. 



157. It is fully believed, that one of Arobal' s disciples succeeded 

 by the power of his medicines in transferring all Asfa Wassun's con- 

 cubines to his own harem, and having been seized and remonstrated 

 with on the gross impropriety of his conduct, he behaved in the most in- 

 solent manner, and referred the proceeding entirely to the high as- 

 sistance of his friend, the genius of the lake. In his extremity, he was 

 deserted by the spirit, and the crim. con. being fully established, he was 

 put to death by order of the king, and the misguided ladies brought 

 back in durance vile to the palace ; but his character for subtle medicines 

 was fully established, as one of the concubines shortly afterwards de- 



