All At
Times, As Is The Custom, Drank Cold Water From A Smoked Gourd, And Seemed
To Dwell Upon The Sweet And Pleasant Draught.
I could not but remark the
fine flavour of the plant after the coarser quality grown in Yemen.
Europeans
Perceive but little effect from it--friend S. and I once tried
in vain a strong infusion--the Arabs, however, unaccustomed to stimulants
and narcotics, declare that, like opium eaters, they cannot live without
the excitement. It seems to produce in them a manner of dreamy enjoyment,
which, exaggerated by time and distance, may have given rise to that
splendid myth the Lotos, and the Lotophagi. It is held by the Ulema here
as in Arabia, "Akl el Salikin," or the Food of the Pious, and literati
remark that it has the singular properties of enlivening the imagination,
clearing the ideas, cheering the heart, diminishing sleep, and taking the
place of food. The people of Harar eat it every day from 9 A.M. till near
noon, when they dine and afterwards indulge in something stronger,--
millet-beer and mead.
The Gerad, after polite inquiries, seated me by his right hand upon the
Dais, where I ate Kat and fingered my rosary, whilst he transacted the
business of the day. Then one of the elders took from a little recess in
the wall a large book, and uncovering it, began to recite a long Dua or
Blessing upon the Prophet: at the end of each period all present intoned
the response, "Allah bless our Lord Mohammed with his Progeny and his
Companions, one and all!" This exercise lasting half an hour afforded me
the opportunity,--much desired,--of making an impression.
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