V 



456 



" The princess 'asked (bdra-jia) saying — 

 " Pray inform thine handmaid, concerning the 

 manner in which the earth was at first created/' 

 (The prince) replied, " The mighty Jehovah 

 shed forih a light toward the (yet unformed) 

 earth. The light melted, and became the watery 

 abyss— the sea, vast and unlimited." 



** He next glanced on the watery expanse, and 

 foam and smoke a^^cended. The sea was formed 

 with seven stories — each one of winch is removed 

 from another, the distance or a journey of five 

 hundred years. In like manner, was the earth 

 also formed w ith seven stories, lie then spread 

 out the earth upon tlie ocean, from the place 

 where the sun rises, to the place where he goes 

 down. But the centre of the earth was yet tre- 

 mulous, being agitated by the divine billows of 

 the deep and wide sea. The mighty Jehovah 

 created the mountain Koff, * to consolidate the 

 earth, to encircle it, and lo ward off from it the 

 divine billows of the vast aby&s. From the 

 rough veins of Koff sprang up multitudes ofother 

 mountains, high and large, which render the 

 earth immoveable. 



** Beyond the boundaries of Koff is a vast 

 space, seventy times as large as the world ; the 

 sand and dust thereof are musk; the grass and 

 herbs, saffron; the stones, rubies and emeralds/* 

 * Yea, it is thus, my sister.' f 



W t3 Koff*, an Arabic word, Lbe Dame of a fast rmoge of JturoDtatnp, 

 wbich are ^iippo^ed to aurrontid Ui€ habltalilc woi-M, and to farm iU Ituuu- 

 daHei. Bcjond this i-&n^ti ui mouulains aJl tbe etgbteea classea of CieniE, 

 gooil and bad,, are said to re^dc. 



* tXjj I Adinda. '* Sbter"~ati epithet exprewf ve <tf fHendilitp and 

 BtTeetion. Here u»ed after the mBiiii^r of mo^t of the eastern tiatioaii, ai 

 a su batj t ute for this personal p rano un, ' il rotb e r^' is also mcdin the «iun« 



