Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/268

252 bones, feathers of birds, the skin of different animals, fragments of colored glass and stone filled corners and shelves in motley array.

One of these peculiar craftsmen wrote something on bits of skin or paper, wrapped and tied them round diminutive packets with a mysterious knot, whispered incantations and took care to see that his assistant, who was dumb, did not interrupt him in the course of turning out one of these precious bundles. When we were told the composition of some of these amulets, I recalled the strange recipes given by Pliny in his Natural History and I realized at once that nothing had changed in this realm since the time of the great scientist. I observed that the talismans and the signs inscribed upon them closely resembled those which I had seen in the "land of demons," Mongolia and Djungaria. I would not go so far as to say that they had come to Maghreb from the prairies and mountains of Asia, but I have a feeling that all these talismans are of the same extraction and are older than Mongolia and Berbers, that is, that they came from Assyria, India, Egypt or, perhaps, even from Atlantis.

In one of the rooms in this court of the sorcerers Ali showed me a great artist, who was seated on the floor near a little table, bending over a small, smoking oil-lamp and painting with diminutive brushes the script of holy verses from the Koran in a little parchment book, bound in beautiful leather, illuminating the text with the brilliant colors of the ancient Arabian manuscripts. He worked with enthusiasm and devotion, forgetting everything else, though the hour was late and an untouched bowl of quite cold kouskous stood at his side.