196 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babyloniacrater-like hollow of the mountain cliff of Shêkh Herîdî there are
two domed tombs, dedicated not to a Christian or a Mohammedan
saint, but to a snake and his female mate. Shêkh Herîdî, in fact, is
a serpent, and the place he inhabits is holy ground. Pilgrimages
are made annually to it, and the festival of the“Shêkh,”which
takes place in the month that follows Ramadan, is attended by
crowds of sailors and other devout believers, who encamp for
days together in the neighbourhood of the shrine.
They have no doubt about the miraculous powers possessed
by the snake. It is as thick as a man's thigh, and, if treated
irreverently, breathes flames of fire into the face of the spectator,
who immediately dies. If it is cut in pieces, the pieces reunite of
their own accord, and the blood flowing from them marks a spot
where gold is hidden in the ground.
Paul Lucas, in the early part of the eighteenth century, tells us
that in his time it was called“the angel,”and that shortly before
his visit to the Nile it had cured a woman of Ekhmîm of paralysis,
from which she had suffered for eight years, by simply crawling
up into her litter when she was brought to its dwelling-place.
Paul Lucas himself was a witness of its supernatural gifts. It was
brought to him by the keeper of the shrine when he was visiting
a Bey on the opposite side of the river. Suddenly it disappeared,
and was nowhere to be found; but a messenger, who was sent
[214] post haste to the shrine, returned with the information that“the
angel was already there, and had advanced more than twenty
steps to meet the dervish who takes care of it.”^172
Norden, a few years later, has a similar tale to relate. He
was told that the serpent-saint“never dies,”and that it“cures
and grants favours to all those who implore its aid and offer
sacrifices to it.”The cures were effected by the mere presence of
the snake, which came in person to those who desired its help.
The Christians, he adds, admit the miraculous powers of the
(^172) Voyage du Sieur Paul Lucas, fait en mdccxiv etc., par Ordre de Louis XIV.,
ii. pp. 83-86.