Page:In Desert and Wilderness (Sienkiewicz, tr. Drezmal).djvu/160

152 he raised his hands, placed his big fingers to his ears, and for some time prayed.

The children did not stand far away, and could see him well. He was a middle-aged man, prodigiously obese as though bloated, and almost black. Stas, who had an unusually keen sight, perceived that his face was tattooed. In one ear he wore a big ivory ring. He was dressed in a white jubha and had a white cap on his head. His feet were bare, as on mounting the platform he shook off red half-boots and left them on the sheep's hide on which he was afterwards to pray. There was not the least luxury in his clothing. Only at times the wind carried a strong sandal scent which the faithful present inhaled eagerly through their nostrils; at the same time they rolled their eyes from joy. On the whole Stas had pictured differently this terrible prophet, plunderer, and murderer of so many thousand people, and looking now at the fat face with its mild look, with eyes suffused with tears, and with a smile, as though grown to those lips, he could not overcome his astonishment. He thought that such a man ought to bear on his shoulders the head of a hyena or a crocodile, and instead he saw before him a chubby-faced gourd, resembling drawings of a full moon.

But the prophet began his instruction. His deep and resonant voice could be heard perfectly all over the place, so that his words reached the ears of all the faithful. He first spoke of the punishments which God meted out to those who disobey the commands of the Mahdi, and hide booty, get intoxicated upon merissa, spare the enemy in battles, and smoke tobacco. On account of these crimes Allah sends upon the sinners famine and