844 Observations upon the past and present [Oct. 



in vain the brahmans, like the priests of old, called on the name of 

 their Baal, from morn even unto night, saying, Baal, hear us. Their 

 lord was peradventure asleep, for he heard them not, and the waters 

 remained unmoved and undisturbed. Yaku'b stood by, like Elija, 

 and mocked them, and when at last in despair they relinquished their 

 fruitless task, he by a few prayers and incantations caused the waters to 

 retire. I have dwelt the longer upon this fable because it confirms the 

 fact of a connexion with Egypt*, by the singular coincidence of the 

 drying up of the tank, with a well known superstition peculiar to that 

 country. In De Sacy's Abd Allatif the curious may read the whole 

 process by which the African magicians absorbed water ; a small image, 

 the letters T and H, some string, a little pigeon's blood, &c. being the 

 simple ingredients of their talismanf. 



But Yaku'b's skill was not confined to depriving a pool of its 

 water. At the king's request he again replenished the exhausted tank, 

 and Sadras and his court, won by such a succession of miracles, 

 embraced the religion of their author. " Of a truth" says Sadi, 

 " every one is born with a disposition to Islamism." The inhabitants 

 of the neighbourhood soon followed the example of their lords, and 

 in a few days a numerous population was repeating the Imdmiyeh 

 kulma. The Indian converts, who being generally merchants, wer e 

 distinguished by the name of bohras (byohar, traffic) were obliged, 

 from their ignorance of Arabic, to refer to their brethren at Yemen 

 whom they looked up to as superiors in all questions regarding the 

 laws and ceremonies of their religion, just as the Parsis of Hindustdn 

 obtained their revaiuts from the more learned guebres of Yezd. As 

 it is the duty also of every Bohra to perform once in his life a haj 

 to his chief mulla, an active intercourse subsisted between Yemen and 

 Cambay, the pious pilgrims doubtless mingling some attention to 

 interest with their spiritual functions]:, and in going and returning 



* Yeman was at this period a tributary of Egypt. 



•f See fourth appendix to the Relation de Egypte. The verses which contain 

 the mystery are too long for insertion here, excepting the opening lines which 

 have an amusing solemnity. " Toi qui desires apprendre le secret de faire absorber 

 les eaux ecoute les paroles de verity que t'enseigne un homme bien instruit," 

 &c. The object of drying up water was to uncover hidden treasure, the letter 

 T was always used in African magic, it was the figure of the cross with which the 

 height of the Nile was measured, what H signified I cannot remember. You will 

 have remarked that the names Kela and Chama/cp&n (Chambaka patharj, are 

 Hindi, though the work from which I extracted them was Arabic. 



% That such has been the practice from the days of the Crusade till the pre- 

 sent time, see Robertson's disquisition. 



