Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/268

230 rather than to the Atlantic Ocean, as might be imagined from the confused text. However, these two bodies of water joined, according to the writer's geography. The Christians in Socotra, 64, are noteworthy. Moses is represented as a giant, a mighty leaper; his staff was ten cubits long, 143. The Frankish inroad, 298, may be a dim tradition of the Ægean invasions, certainly not of the Crusades, as the translator needlessly warns the reader, for they took place later than the date of the book. Malik, King of Egypt, 305, bears some likeness to Melkarth, the Tyrian Hercules; both conquered Spain and set up pillars by the Atlantic Ocean, 306. Roderick of Spain is made contemporaneous with the Pharaoh of Joseph. Carthagena, 363, is a mistake for Carthage. The Lombards appear to be ruling in Italy at the date of the book, 120.

The source of the Nile is placed in Paradise, 349. The old man of the sea, 53, recalls, among others, the mysterious Pesce-Nicolo famous in Neapolitan legend. There are stories somewhat of the Melusine type, 20, 27, 332. Satan is confused with Deddjâl (Antichrist), 31, 57, 150; his punishment recalls that of Prometheus. Tree-worship is attributed to the people of Zanzibar, 102.

Some talismans had to be used with certain formulas of incantation, 243. There were also such formulas acting alone, 206. Other talismans grew weak with age, 180; some depended on time or place, 257; some might be counteracted by others, 222. There were potent magical names, 140, 142. Rain was made in Zanzibar by burning a heap of bones as a sacrifice, while incantations were being recited, 102. Hidden treasures were obtained by propitiating the supernatural guardians with burnt offerings, the hair of the victim being used as incense, 355; or the feathers, as of a white cock, 249. The pyramids were searched for treasures, 210; they had been built to guard them, 208; and also served as means of escape from the deluge, 173, 203, 231. Wonderful, but not stated to be supernatural, was the distillation of water in Egypt, 246; the church under the sea near old Constantinople, 40; and the walking forest in Arabia, 154. Among magical objects were coins growing heavier when used as weights, 283, or returning when spent to their former owner, 284; vases weighing the same empty or full, 215, 284, or converting water into wine, 284; divining mirrors, 234, 288, 293; speaking, moving,