There on that throne, to which the blind belief His dazzling brow, till man could bear its light. For, far less luminous, his votaries said, Were ev'n the gleams, miraculously shed O'er MOUSSA's cheek †, when down the Mount he trod, All glowing from the presence of his God! On either side, with ready hearts and hands, His chosen guard of bold Believers stands; And bless the lips that doom'd so dear a death! * Moses. "Ses disciples assuroient qu'il se couvroit le visage, pour ne pas éblouir ceux qui l'approchoient par l'éclat de son visage comme Moyse."-D'Herbelot. In hatred to the Caliph's hue of night,* Their vesture, helms and all, is snowy white; Their weapons various — some equipp'd, for speed, With javelins of the light Kathaian reed; † Or bows of buffalo horn and shining quivers Fill'd with the stems that bloom on IRAN's rivers; § While some, for war's more terrible attacks, Wield the huge mace and ponderous battle-axe; And as they wave aloft in morning's beam The milk-white plumage of their helms, they seem * Black was the colour adopted by the Caliphs of the House of Abbas, in their garments, turbans, and standards. "Il faut remarquer ici touchant les habits blancs des disciples de Hakem, que la couleur des habits, des coëffures et des étendarts des Khalifes Abassides étant la noire, ce chef de Rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir une qui lui fut plus opposée."-D'Herbelot. †“Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, slender and delicate."-Poem of Amru. Pichula, used anciently for arrows by the Persians. § The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it." Nothing can be more beautiful than the appearance of this plant in flower during the rains on the banks of rivers, where it is usually interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias."-Sir W. Jones, Botanical Observations on Select Indian Plants. Like a chenar-tree grove, when winter throws Between the porphyry pillars, that uphold To people Eden's bowers with shapes of love, The oriental plane. "The chenar is a delightful tree; its bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; and its foliage, which grows in a tuft at the summit, is of a bright green."-Morier's Travels. C Well hath the Prophet-Chief his bidding done; From those who kneel at BRAHMA's burning founts,* To the small, half-shut glances of KATHAY;† And GEORGIA's bloom, and AZAB's darker smiles, All, all are there;—each Land its flower hath given, But why this pageant now? this arm'd array? * The burning fountains of Brahma near Chittogong, esteemed as holy.-Turner. † China. "The name of tulip is said to be of Turkish extraction, and given to the flower on account of its resembling a turban.”—Beckmann's History of Inventions. What new-made myst'ry now, for Faith to sign, Not such the pageant now, though not less proud; So fiercely beautiful in form and eye, That youth to-day, a proselyte, worth hordes Of cooler spirits and less practis'd swords,— The creed and standard of the heav'n-sent Chief. Though few his years, the West already knows Young AZIM's fame; - beyond the' Olympian snows, "The inhabitants of Bucharia wear a round cloth bonnet, shaped much after the Polish fashion, having a large fur border. They tie their kaftans about the middle with a girdle of a kind of silk crape, several times round the body."- Account of Independent Tartary, in Pinkerton's Collection. |