Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/267

Rh of them believes basically in Islam and simply adds its own modifications or restrictions.

There in the court of the inn, as Ali whispered to me something of all this, the quarrel developed hot and violent, as religious quarrels are apt to do. The dispute became so passionate that the thin Haddawa began to jump and whirl around, until finally he raised his thin hand and shouted:

"Ama el-Hakk (I am Truth)!" by which words the tall fanatic declared himself to be God. A hush fell on the whole court, and after a moment the natives, covering their faces with their bournouses, pressed together in one corner of the courtyard and engaged in earnest deliberation.

"Let us go," whispered Ali, "for knives will soon be coming into play."

Not anxious to have to try the temper of my new blade so soon, I willingly left this fonduk where these men of warring sects had gathered by accident or intent.

At a short distance down the street Ali stopped and knocked at the door of a small inn, or rather a house of furnished rooms, if one agrees to accept as furniture a dirty carpet with two greasy cushions thrown in. Several rooms of this ilk opened on tire four sides of a paved court with a tree in the center of it. We made a round of these dens and saw that their inhabitants were for the most part sorcerers, who were busy making talismans of every description. Each had his whole laboratory in one of these small places, where herbs, the bark of different trees, henna, the gall of birds, bats and cats, the dried hearts and eyes of jackals, cats and cocks, wisps of hair,