rows of teeth. The crocodile has only two rows. People of the sea call it
ha:ar. From the description of its young ones, it would seem that it has
two ears, since every animal possessing ears delivers children, while the
animals having hidden ears deliver eggs only. Abu Hasan Turunji in his
Kunashah writes: "Kawsaj is a blackish fish, having a concave back, and
is without fins, Its teeth are like saw. When it bites, it turns over and
revolves like a mill till the organ of the man (attacked by it) detaches
itself from the body." If lakhm is not evil, then its mention is useless.
In Arabic verses we frequently find the oil of the diver mentioned.
Mutlammis says (some have said that these verses are by Musayyab, the
maternal uncle of Asha):
It is like the pearl picked by the diver from the midst of vortex in the
sea, the diver who is broad-mouthed ashgha and spits out oil in order
to search for the pearl, thirsty and poverty-stricken. His father died
for him and then he said: ''I shall either die like my father or make
an earning for life." He dove into the sea at the meridian and his
companion was unaware (of his performance).
He got his desire and he brought that which glittered like an ember in
its shell.
He was offered a high price for it but he declined. His companion
asked him: "Why sellest thou not?"
Asma'i says ashgha is a broad-jawed person having spaces within the
teeth. He further says: ''Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim bin Sulam says that the
poet is describing the diver who has had his mouth filled with oil. When
he dives, he spits it out so that the sea might get illumined and he might
see around himself.
Qutami says about plunging into water and the diver:
Or like that real pearl which was picked by a slender and pale Indian.
Who reached it in a boat that was being buffeted by the waves, but
he was intrepid.
A broad-bottomed boat coated with pitch; When the water buffetted
it, it penetrated into it.
When at last the boat reached the middle sea, the diver divested himself of his clothes and disappeared into the sea.
A never-ending sea that is a killer from which the oarsmen seek protection through fear.
The penetrator of the sea who spits out oil with a large volume of
water above him.
At last he got it and death almost suffocated him in the teak-wood
broad-bottomed black boat.
The divers of our age are not familiar with these things. They observe the water around themselves carefully, open their eyelids, and the
salinity of the sea does not do them any harm. Besides, how can oil have
