 | Songs of a Stranger |  |
COLABAH
“The Arabian tribe of Ad were descended from Ad, the son
of Aws, son of Arem, son of Sem, son of Noah, who, after the
confusion of tongues settled in Al Ahkaf, or the Winding
Sands, in the province of Hadramant, where his posterity
greatly multiplied. Their first king was Shedâd, the son of
Ad, of whom Eastern writers deliver many strange things;
particularly that he finished the magnificent cities his father
had begun, wherein he built a fine palace adorned with delicious
gardens, to embellish which he spared neither cost nor
labour, proposing thereby to create in his subjects a superstitious
veneration of himself as a god. This garden or paradise
was called the garden of Iram, and is mentioned in the
Koran, and often alluded to by Oriental writers. They tell
us it is still to be found in the deserts of Aden, being preserved
by Providence as a monument of divine justice, though
it be invisible unless very rarely, when God permits it to be
seen: a favour one Colabah pretended to have received, in the
reign of Khalîf Moâhuryah, who sending for him to know the
truth of the matter, Colabah related, that as he was seeking
a lost camel he found himself on a sudden at the gates of this
city, and entering, saw not one inhabitant; at which, being
terrified, he stayed no longer than to take with him some fine
stones, which he showed the Khâlif. Shedâd and his attendants,
going to take a view of his garden, were destroyed by a
visitation from heaven.”—Sale's Preliminary Discourse.
It will be perceived that Colabah's adventure, which reminds
one of Sancho's apocryphal visit to the stars, has been
a little altered in some of its particulars.
“That ‘vapour in a plain,’ which so often deceives the
thirsty traveller, is called in Arabic Serâb: it is seen in sandy
plains about noon, resembles a large lake of water in motion,
and is occasioned by the reverberation of the sun's beams.”
—
Notes to Koran.
“I saw from the S.E. a haze come on, in colour like the
purple part of the rainbow; but not so compressed or thick:
it did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, and was about
twelve feet high from the ground. It was a kind of blush
upon the air, and it moved very rapidly.”—
Bruce's mention of the Simoom.
“Ali said, the pious, when they come from their sepulchres,
shall find ready prepared white-winged camels with saddles of
gold.”—
Notes to Koran.
For the miracle of the she-camel which the prayers of Salêh
produced from a rock, see Ibid.
The angel of death is called Dûma, and is said to call dying
persons by their respective names at their last hour.
“The Arabs, when they found themselves in a desert in
the evening (the genii being supposed to haunt such places
about this time), used to say, ‘I fly for protection unto the
lord of this valley, that he may defend me from the fury of
his people.’”—
Ibid.
See the splendid descriptions in the Koran of several of the
hundred gardens of paradise—the streams, whose beds are
musk, earth camphire, pebbles emerald and rubies, sides
saffron—the trees with golden bells of “ravishing harmony”
set in motion by the wind—the Hûr-al-oyûn, so called from
their large black eyes, who may be mistaken for scattered
pearls—with all the delights that Mohammed declared would
require the ability of a hundred men to enjoy!
“Whatever is in heaven or on earth worshippeth God voluntarily
or of force, and their shadows also, morning and evening.”—
Koran.
Note.—“The infidels and devils themselves being constrained
to humble themselves before him, though against their will,
when they are delivered up to punishment. The mention of
the shadows alludes to the increasing and diminishing of the
shadows according to the height of the sun; so that when
they are longest, which is morning and evening, they appear
prostrate on the ground in the posture of adoration.”—
Sale.
A similar idea occurs in Milton:—
“And wave your tops ye pines, and every plant
In sign of worship wave.”
See the fable in notes to Koran, of the angels Harût and
Marût, betrayed by the beauty of Zohara (the planet Venus),
sent to prove their virtue.
,
“The Arabian tribe of Ad were descended from Ad, the son of Aws, son of Arem, son of Sem, son of Noah, who, after the confusion of tongues settled in Al Ahkaf, or the Winding Sands, in the province of Hadramant, where his posterity greatly multiplied. Their first king was Shedâd, the son of Ad, of whom Eastern writers deliver many strange things; particularly that he finished the magnificent cities his father had begun, wherein he built a fine palace adorned with delicious gardens, to embellish which he spared neither cost nor labour, proposing thereby to create in his subjects a superstitious veneration of himself as a god. This garden or paradise was called the garden of Iram, and is mentioned in the Koran, and often alluded to by Oriental writers. They tell us it is still to be found in the deserts of Aden, being preserved by Providence as a monument of divine justice, though it be invisible unless very rarely, when God permits it to be seen: a favour one Colabah pretended to have received, in the reign of Khalîf Moâhuryah, who sending for him to know the truth of the matter, Colabah related, that as he was seeking a lost camel he found himself on a sudden at the gates of this city, and entering, saw not one inhabitant; at which, being terrified, he stayed no longer than to take with him some fine stones, which he showed the Khâlif. Shedâd and his attendants, going to take a view of his garden, were destroyed by a visitation from heaven.”—Sale's Preliminary Discourse.
It will be perceived that Colabah's adventure, which reminds one of Sancho's apocryphal visit to the stars, has been a little altered in some of its particulars.
“That ‘vapour in a plain,’ which so often deceives the thirsty traveller, is called in Arabic Serâb: it is seen in sandy plains about noon, resembles a large lake of water in motion, and is occasioned by the reverberation of the sun's beams.” — Notes to Koran.
“I saw from the S.E. a haze come on, in colour like the purple part of the rainbow; but not so compressed or thick: it did not occupy twenty yards in breadth, and was about twelve feet high from the ground. It was a kind of blush upon the air, and it moved very rapidly.”— Bruce's mention of the Simoom.
“Ali said, the pious, when they come from their sepulchres, shall find ready prepared white-winged camels with saddles of gold.”— Notes to Koran.
For the miracle of the she-camel which the prayers of Salêh produced from a rock, see Ibid.
The angel of death is called Dûma, and is said to call dying persons by their respective names at their last hour.
“The Arabs, when they found themselves in a desert in the evening (the genii being supposed to haunt such places about this time), used to say, ‘I fly for protection unto the lord of this valley, that he may defend me from the fury of his people.’”— Ibid.
See the splendid descriptions in the Koran of several of the hundred gardens of paradise—the streams, whose beds are musk, earth camphire, pebbles emerald and rubies, sides saffron—the trees with golden bells of “ravishing harmony” set in motion by the wind—the Hûr-al-oyûn, so called from their large black eyes, who may be mistaken for scattered pearls—with all the delights that Mohammed declared would require the ability of a hundred men to enjoy!
“Whatever is in heaven or on earth worshippeth God voluntarily or of force, and their shadows also, morning and evening.”— Koran.
Note.—“The infidels and devils themselves being constrained to humble themselves before him, though against their will, when they are delivered up to punishment. The mention of the shadows alludes to the increasing and diminishing of the shadows according to the height of the sun; so that when they are longest, which is morning and evening, they appear prostrate on the ground in the posture of adoration.”— Sale.
A similar idea occurs in Milton:—
In sign of worship wave.”
See the fable in notes to Koran, of the angels Harût and Marût, betrayed by the beauty of Zohara (the planet Venus), sent to prove their virtue.
THE CAMEL-SEEKER.
Where hide thee from my sight?
I have wandered all the burning day,
And through the shades of night:—
Amidst the Winding Sands I go,
And call to thee in vain;
And see before me, rising slow,
The ‘vapour of the plain.’
Along the wild and scorching waste,
The purple haze comes on:
Around upon the air it flings
Destruction from its rainbow wings,
And warns me to be gone.
Led'st thou thy master here to die!
Among my children was thy place,
Whose tears thy loss deplore:—
Though thou hadst been of heavenly race,
We had not prized thee more;—
Though thou wert stately, pure, and fair,
As she who came at Saleh's prayer.
Of Dûma in the air,
Who calls upon me sullenly—
‘Thy hour is nigh,—prepare!’”
With toil and grief opprest,
Till, 'midst a cavern's awful shade
He cast him down to rest,
And to the Desert Spirit prayed
That his visions might be blest:
He lay in slumber heavy and deep,
And a dream came over his troubled sleep.
A single ray was shed,
Like the light that glimmers in a tomb
Beside the unconscious dead:
And by that dim, uncertain light
He traced a vaulted way,
That frown'd in the dismal hues of night,
While all beyond was day;
And there, 'midst skies of purest blue,
Were shadows and shapes of things—
But he could not mark their form or hue,
For the flashing of golden wings;
And voices sounded in melody,
But he knew not what they sung,
For even the breeze of that lovely sky
With answering music rung.
And gazed through the gloom around;—
Behold! 'tis there, the lonely gleam,—
And, hark! 'tis the magic sound!
It beckons to yonder land of light,
That spreads before his eager sight!
That favour'd Arab that befell?
As he roved through Iram's radiant bowers,
'Midst glowing fruits and perfumed flowers;
By a stream of liquid pearl, whose bed
Of musk with emeralds was spread,
And rubies, whose unclouded light
Made the sparkling tide more bright;
By whose banks, of varied hue,
Trees, whose leaves were jewels, grew;
And the bells of gold that amidst them hung
On the wakening breeze soft music flung;
And lovely forms were flitting by,
Like scattered pearls so fair,
But the lustre of each large black eye
Met his gaze unconsciously,
Nor mark'd as Colabah drew nigh:
And all he look'd on there,
Though bright, and glowing, and rich it gleam'd,
Was but the shadow of what it seem'd.
The flowers, the fruit, shrunk from his hand,
But while he lingered in rapt surprise,
The hues grew pale to his dazzled eyes,
And all was silvery gray:
The forms were dim—and, one by one,
They faded, till each trace was gone;
And where that lovely land had been,
The waste of the Winding Sands was seen!
And Colabah with joy descried
His wandering camel by his side. [OMITTED] [OMITTED]
When slowly waned the day,
And in worship of the Prince of Power
The prostrate shadows lay,
The Arab told, in Shedâd's bowers
The wonders that befell;—
How soft the tints of Iram's flowers,—
How fair the maids who dwell
In those eternal groves of light:
Pure as Zohara's eyes of night,
They shot a mournful ray,
That told their crime was unforgiven—
Then fled from their gaze away:
Leaving the earth, they dared prefer
A ray of the Paradise lost for her!
| Songs of a Stranger | |