1844.] Notice of the Ajaib-al- Mukhlukat. 663 



They are different in manners and dress from all other men. 

 The author describes many singular customs practised by these 

 tribes. 



The Trades or Arts, l •» .ULLaH 



The arts were decreed by God, and resorted to by man on account of 

 his necessities. 



The art of ploughing, (Al-falahat, d-K£>%h.\\) and that of the 

 shepherd, the author justly ranks first. He then treats of soils best adapt- 

 ed for different sorts of grain, fallowing of ground, &c, of devices to 

 produce grapes without stones, and grapes of different colours. Also 

 to produce sheep of different colours, by a process similar to that which 

 Jacob had recourse to ; next follows the art of the chace ; hunting the 

 elephant ; catching of birds and fishes, &c. ; then the manufacture of 

 cloth ; the art of building and selecting sites for towns and cities. The 

 craft of the blacksmith and worker in metals succeeds, and the name 

 of the man who made the first sword in the world ; viz. Tabal, jAj* 



The author mentions the conversion of iron into steel, by heating it 

 and plunging it into pomegranate water or buttermilk two or three 

 times. 



The first ship-builder as connected with the art of the carpenter, An- 

 najaret, t «» t ,lg*'| is said to be Noah. 



To ship-building follows commerce or trade, with the author's instruc- 

 tions how to select the principal articles of traffic. The best swords, 

 he informs us, come from India ; the finest paper from Samarcand ; the 

 best bows from Damascus ; the choicest musk from Thibet, and the 

 most inferior that from Hindoosthan. The best ambergris, we are told, 

 is that on which black and white are mingled. 



Arithmetic,, Hissab, , ,1**** and writing, Al-kitabet, cllolX&J 



follow. The chapter on the former clearly shows, that the decimal 

 system of the Arabs was deduced from the fingers of the hands, which 

 were resorted to as natural collections for reference, in computing. 



To these succeed the arts of luxury ; versification and music ; medicine ; 

 strange diseases ; remedies ; cosmetics ; dyeing the hair ; sexual infirmi- 

 ties ; astrology ; uses of the astrolabe ; magic squares ; talismans, &c. ; 

 cunning stratagems of men and women ; ending with a description of 



