would be able to tell me all about the robbery, who committed it, where the
stolen property then was, and that all he would want was an empty house
wherein he might fast in solitude for three days, without which preparation, he
said, he would not be able to see what he sought. He told me that after his vigil,
fast, and prayer, he would lay in his hand a small piece of paper on which there
would be some writing; into this he would pour a little water, and in that
extemporised mirror he would see a vision of the whole transaction. He declared
that, after gazing intently into this divining-glass, the inquirer first recognised
the figure of a little old man. That having duly saluted this Jin, it was necessary
to ask him to conjure up the scene of the robbery, when all the details would be
re-enacted in the liquid glass under the eyes of the gazer, who would there and
then describe all that he saw. I had heard all this before, only it had been stated
to me then that the medium through whose eyes the vision could alone be seen
must be a young child of such tender years that it could have never told a lie!
The Arab, however, professed himself not only able to conjure up the scene, but
to let me see it for myself if I would follow his directions. Unfortunately, my
gray-eyed friend failed to keep his promise, and I never met him again.
“A local Chief, however, declared his power to read the past by this method, if
only he could find the truthful child. In this he appeared to succeed, but when, on
the following day, he came to disclose to me the results of his skill, he said that a
difficulty had arisen, because just when the child (a little boy) was beginning to
relate what he saw he suddenly became unconscious, and it took the astrologer
two hours to restore him to his normal state. All the mothers of tender-aged and
possibly truthful children declined after this to lend their offspring for the ordeal.
“My friend was not, however, at the end of his resources, and, though only an
amateur in divination, he undertook to try by other methods to find the culprit.
For this purpose he asked me to give him the names of every one in the house at
the time the robbery was committed. I did so, and the next day he gave me one
of those names as that of the thief. I asked how he had arrived at this knowledge;
he described the method, and consented to repeat the experiment in my presence.
That afternoon I went with him to a small house belonging to his sister. Here I
found the Chief, his sister, and two men whom I did not recognise. We all sat in
a very small room, the Chief in the centre with a copy of the Korân on a reading-
stand, near to him the two men opposite to each other, the sister against one wall,
and I in a corner. A clean, new, unglazed earthenware bowl with a wide rim was