Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/345

 In the tenth century Mis'ar Muhalhil (941 a.d.), already cited, gives some accurate information regarding the place, though part of his data are rather fantastic : —

'Bistam is a large fortified place resembling, rather, a small city. The famous Shaikh Abu Yazid al-Bistami was born here. The name Bistaml is given to a species of yellow apple, of excellent flavor, that comes from this town and is exported throughout Irak. The place has two peculiari- ties : one is, love is a sentiment unknown to its inhabitants, and if a stranger suffers from this passion, he need only partake of the water of Bistam to find his passion quenched. The other peculiarity is that here nobody suffers from ophthalmia. The water has a bitter taste, but when taken on an empty stomach it is very healthful and is used medicinally in special cases. Aloes lose their scent when brought here, even the best aloes from India; on the contrary, all other perfumes, musk, amber, etc., take on an added aroma. The soil produces a great quantity of small snakes, of reptiles, and of bugs, whose bite is very dangerous.'

Some of the other references in the Arab-Persian writers to Bustam (then spelled Bistam) have been given above (p. 178), in connection with the notes on Damghan and Tak. It may be of interest to add to them that Ibn Haukal (978 a.d.) refers to the fertility of this region, which abounds in gardens ; and Mukaddasi (985) says that its chief mosque in the market-place was ' like a citadel ' ; while Nasir-i Khusrau (1046) seems to account Bustam as the most important city in the whole prov- ince.2 Yet alas, in the thirteenth century Bustam, like its neighbors, suffered the ravages of Chingiz Khan and his Mon- gol hordes, though happily their victorious sway left monuments of noble architecture, which give to the city its chief renown today.3 From the fourteenth century onward Bustam shared in the further history of the territory in which it is located ; and, as already noted, it still retains the honor of being the

^

» See Skrine and Ross, The Heart

of Asia, pp. 159, 174, 233 ; and com-

pare Horn, Grundr. iran. Philol. 2.

2 For references see Le Strange, 573-675 ; also Sarre, Denkmdler, Text-

Eastern Caliphate, p. 365. band, p. 116.

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