DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11448#0130
100
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.
[chap. xv.
with magical practices, that we find them forbidden upon pain
of death ; yet, four hundred years afterwards, Saul found a
witch at Endor, and books have been written upon Solomon's
necromancies. The study of magic is still followed in Egypt,
as it has always been. Caviglia told Lord Lindsay that he had
pursued it to the bounds of what was lawful for man to know;
and M. Preiss, an eminent antiquary, is said to be now deeply
engaged in the same pursuit.
There are many professors of magic among the natives of
Cairo, and these are not to be confounded with jugglers, of whom
there are also considerable numbers. The most remarkable of
the magicians is the Sheikh Abdel-Kader Maugrabee, who has
been introduced to English notice by Lord Prudhoe, Mr. Salt,
Mr. Lane, Lord Lindsay, and several other writers. None of
these travellers were men likely to lend themselves to a decep-
tion, yet they were all more or less convinced of the reality of
this magician's pretensions. On my arrival at Cairo, I found
some difficulty in inducing him to come to my hotel, as he had
been recently kicked down stairs by a party of young English-
men, for a failure in his performances. At length, through the
kindness of our consul, I procured a visit from him one evening.
He was rather a majestic-looking old man, though he required
the imposing effect of his long grey beard and wide turban to
counteract the disagreeable expression of his little twinkling
eyes. I had a pipe and coffee served to him, and he discoursed
without reserve upon the subject of his art, in which he offered
to instruct me. After some time, a boy about twelve years old p»
was brought in, and the performance began. He took the child's *
right hand in his, and described a square figure on its palm, on 5
which he wrote some Arabic characters; while this was drying, 3
he wrote upon a piece of paper an invocation to his familiar g
Spirits, which he burnt with some frankincense in a brazier at
his feet. For a moment, a cloud of fragrant smoke enveloped
the wizard and the cowering child who sate before him, but it
had entirely disappeared before the phantasms made their ap-
pearance. Then, taking the boy's hand in his, he poured some
ink into the hollow of it, and began to mutter rapidly ; his coun-
tenance assumed an appearance of intense anxiety, and the per.
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS.
[chap. xv.
with magical practices, that we find them forbidden upon pain
of death ; yet, four hundred years afterwards, Saul found a
witch at Endor, and books have been written upon Solomon's
necromancies. The study of magic is still followed in Egypt,
as it has always been. Caviglia told Lord Lindsay that he had
pursued it to the bounds of what was lawful for man to know;
and M. Preiss, an eminent antiquary, is said to be now deeply
engaged in the same pursuit.
There are many professors of magic among the natives of
Cairo, and these are not to be confounded with jugglers, of whom
there are also considerable numbers. The most remarkable of
the magicians is the Sheikh Abdel-Kader Maugrabee, who has
been introduced to English notice by Lord Prudhoe, Mr. Salt,
Mr. Lane, Lord Lindsay, and several other writers. None of
these travellers were men likely to lend themselves to a decep-
tion, yet they were all more or less convinced of the reality of
this magician's pretensions. On my arrival at Cairo, I found
some difficulty in inducing him to come to my hotel, as he had
been recently kicked down stairs by a party of young English-
men, for a failure in his performances. At length, through the
kindness of our consul, I procured a visit from him one evening.
He was rather a majestic-looking old man, though he required
the imposing effect of his long grey beard and wide turban to
counteract the disagreeable expression of his little twinkling
eyes. I had a pipe and coffee served to him, and he discoursed
without reserve upon the subject of his art, in which he offered
to instruct me. After some time, a boy about twelve years old p»
was brought in, and the performance began. He took the child's *
right hand in his, and described a square figure on its palm, on 5
which he wrote some Arabic characters; while this was drying, 3
he wrote upon a piece of paper an invocation to his familiar g
Spirits, which he burnt with some frankincense in a brazier at
his feet. For a moment, a cloud of fragrant smoke enveloped
the wizard and the cowering child who sate before him, but it
had entirely disappeared before the phantasms made their ap-
pearance. Then, taking the boy's hand in his, he poured some
ink into the hollow of it, and began to mutter rapidly ; his coun-
tenance assumed an appearance of intense anxiety, and the per.