her. She had lighted a small lamp, filled with oil of cocoa, and placing it in an earthen dish, adorned with a wreath of flowers, had committed it with a trembling hand to the stream; and was now anxiously watching its progress down the current, heedless of the gay cavalcade which had drawn up beside her. Lalla Rookh was all curiosity;-when one of her attendants, who had lived upon the banks of the Ganges, (where this ceremony is so frequent that often, in the dusk of the evening, the river is seen glittering all over with lights, like the Oton-Tala, or Sea of Stars,)* informed the Princess that it was th usual way in which the friends of those who had gone on dangerous voyages offered up vows for their safe return. If the lamp sank immediately, the omen was disastrous; but if it went shining down the stream, and continued to burn till entirely out of sight, the return of the beloved object was considered as certain. Lalla Rookh, as they moved on, more than once looked back, to observe how the young Hindoo ́s lamp proceeded; and, while she saw with pleasure that it was still unextinguished, she could not help fearing that all the hopes of this life were no better than that feeble light upon the river. The remainder of the journey was passed in silence. She now, for the first time, felt that shade of melancholy which comes over the youthful maiden's heart, as sweet and transient as her own breath upon a mirror; nor was it till she heard the lute of Feramorz, touched lightly at the door of her pavilion, that she waked from the reverie in which she had been wandering. Instantly her eyes were lighted up with pleasure. and, after a few unheard remarks from Fadladeen upon the indecorum of a poet seating himself in presence of a Princess, every thing was arranged as on the preceding evening, and all listened with eagerness, while the story was thus continued : WHOSE are the gilded tents that crowd the way, This world of tents, and domes, and sun-bright armoury :- Of crimson cloth, and topped with balls of gold :- The place where the Whango, a river of Thibet, rises, and where there are more than a hundred springs, which sparkle like stars; whence it is called Hotun-nor, that is, the Sea of Stars."- Description of Thibet of Pinkerton. The edifices of Chilminar and Balbec are supposed to have been built by the Genii, acting under the orders of Jan ben Jan, who governed the world long before the time of Adam. But yester-eve, so motionless around, So mute was this wide plain, that not a sound Hunting among the thickets, could be heard ;— Shouts, laughs, and screams are revelling in the wind; ye Who leads this mighty army ?-ask "who?" Ne'er did the march of Mahadi display "This trumpet is often called, in Abyssinia, nesser cano, which signifies the Note of the Eagle."-Note of Bruce's Editor. The two black standards borne before the Caliphs of the House of Abbas were called, allegorically, The Night and The Shadow. -See Gibbon. "The Persian swear by the Tomb of Shah Besade, who is buried at Casbin; and when one desires another to asseverate a matter, he will ask him, if he dare swear by the Holy Grave."-Struy. First, in the van, the people of the Rock,* Nor less in number, though more new and rude Flocked to his banner;-Chiefs of the Uzbek race, *The inhabitants of Hejaz or Arabia Petræa, called by an Eastern writer, "The People of the Rock."-Ebn Haukal. "Those horses, called by the Arabians Kochlani, of whom a written genealogy has been kept for 2000 years. They are said to derive their origin from King Solomon's steeds."-Niebuhr. Azab or Saba. § In the mountains of Nishapour and Tous (in Khorassan) they find tur quoises.-Ebn Haukal. The Ghebers or Guebres, those original natives of Persia who adhered to their ancient faith, the religion of Zoroaster, and who, after the conquest of their country by the Arabs, were either persecuted at home, or forced to become wanderers abroad. "Yezd, the chief residence of those ancient natives who worship the Sun and the Fire, which latter they have carefully kept lighted, without being once extinguished for a moment, about 3000 years, on a mountain near Yezd, called Ater Quedah, signifying the House or Mansion of the Fire. He is reckoned very unfortunate who dies off that mountain."-Stephen's Persia. |