Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/345

Rh 3. It is not the object of this work to treat the question of Jewish and Eastern angelology and demonology, amulets, etc., exhaustively. Much interesting information on these and kindred subjects may be gathered from the following English works. ːEdersheim, “Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,” Appendices xiii,,Xvi. ːThomson, “Land and the Book,” 1873, pp. 150, 151, etc. ːLane’s, ‘‘ Modern Egyptians,” vol. i. pp. 300, 306, 317, 338, 361. ːvol. il. pp. 177, 256, 371.

4. Besides written amulets like that of which a translation from the original Hebrew is given above, it is customary amongst Jews and other Orientals to wear different objects made of metal, glass, bone, etc., to keep away evil spirits, and ward off the effects of the evil eye. Amongst these objects we may mention, a wolf’s bone, blue beads, and silver figures of a pair of frogs (the sex of each figure being clearly indicated), a sword, pistol, gun, battle-axe, pair of scissors, scimitar, a hand, tooth, etc., or to wear a sprig of rue, or a copy of the Koran, etc.

5. The belief in the protective power of the name יהוה or YHVH is shared by the Samaritans equally with the adherents of orthodox Judaism. I have in my possession the photograph of a Samaritan charm written on parchment, said to be several centuries old, and to have been used by generation after generation of “the foolish people that dwell in Sichem” (Ecclus. l. 26), in order to cure sick folk of their ailments. It is written in seven columns divided from each other by lines of Samaritan writing in larger characters than those covering the greater part of the document. A framework of two lines of such writing runs along the four sides of the whole, and, on examination with a magnifier, is easily decipherable as containing the account of the overthrow of Pharaoh and his hosts in the sea. The columns are divided into sections by from two to five lines of similar writing (the names of Jehovah, the words “And Moses prayed,” etc.), whilst between the divisions are paragraphs of small and closely written lines. The size of this precious document, for which the trifling sum of 5000 francs was coolly asked, is shown by the scale of centimetres photographed with it. It was in a terribly dirty and torn condition, having been worn, rolled, and folded up into a bundle about 2½ inches cube, and apparently next the skin. About the middle of the eighth column is a “záir ‘geh” table, with letters arranged inside squares, like that shown by Lane, vol. i, p. 356.