1890. 
A  Strange  Wooden  Object. 
13 
however,  immediately  remember  that,  in  such  a  case,  the  origin 
of  these  Koran-desks  must  be  older  than  Mobammedanism  itselfr 
since  the  Norwegian  article  is  older  or  at  latest  contemporaneous 
with  the  life  of  Mohammed.  The  use  of  this  article  for  an  ecclesias- 
tical  purpose  is  therefore,  strictly  speaking,  not  conclusive  for  the 
present  question,  as  it  may  be  conceived  that  an  older  profane 
object  may  have  been  elevated  to  a  sacred  use  in  Mohammedanism. 
Upon  my  application  to  South  Kensington  Museum  in  London 
and  to  Museum  fiir  Volkerkuncle  in  Berlin,  to  obtain  information 
in  regard  to  parallels  of  the  Norwegian  "ring  puzzle",  I  have  had 
replies  from  both  places  kindly  referring  to  those  Koran  desks. 
Such  a  desk  is  seen  illustrated  in  fig.  8,  according  to  an  original 
from  Mecca.1)  Both  the  leaves,  which  are  moveable  in  the  middle 
as  if  hinged,  are  cut  out  of  a  single  block  of  wood.  The  apparatus 
is  used  by  boys  in  practising  recitations  from  the  Koran.  Similar 
book-rests  are  said  to  be  common  in  Turkey,  Egypt,  Persia,  India 
&c.  and  are  made  from  a  single  block  of  wood.  Herein  therefore 
lies,  at  the  first  glance,  the  only  resemblance  to  both  puzzles. 
The  characteristic  square  figure  which  these  form  when  they  are 
opened,  cannot  be  formecl  with  the  Koran  desks.  But,  upon  closer 
examination,  it  appears  possible  that  a  connection  may  really  exist 
between  both  these  species  of  monoxylons.  In  the  reading-desks 
the  piece  of  wood  is  divided  into  two  multi-branched  leaves,  which 
hang  in  each  other  and  may  be  moved  in  the  same  plane.  If  we 
now  split  the  arms  into  two,  throughout  their  entire  length,  the 
characteristic  figure  will  also  be  formed  here.  There  is  only  neces- 
sary  here,  therefore,  the  same  operation  by  which  the  Evebo 
"ring  puzzle",  with  its  four  arms,  permits  itself  to  be  transformed 
into  a  resemblance  to  the  eight-armed  Persian  "puzzle".  But  in 
the  first-named  case  the  change  woulcl  be  essential  and  the  ap- 
paratus be  alter  ed  in  character,  while  in  the  last-named  case  it 
would  not.  If  it  should,  all  the  same,  appear  upon  further  inves- 
tigation  that  a  connection  exists,  we  may  distinctly  recognise  in  the 
Koran  desks  a  typologically  older  form  of  the  instrument.  But  it 
then  carries  us  still  farther  back,  to  the  times  be  fore  Islam,  as 
it  must,  then,  be  older  in  its  origin  than  the  "ring  puzzles"  in  the 
south,  which  have  wandered  northwards  and,  already  about  the  year 
*)  The  illustration  is  borvowed  from  Internationales  Archiv  fiir  Ethno 
graphie.    Vol.  I.    Pl.  XII,  fig.  11. 
