It is said that Mu'tasim took his seat with his boon companions for
having wine. He extended towards them a bough which measured a
cubit and enquired whether anyone was in a position to set its value.
None of them could determine its value except 'Abd Allah b. AlMakhlu'. 92 He said: "Verily, this emerald bough was bought by Umm
Ja'far Zubaydah for 34,000 dinars. It had no knot in it till her death and
it had at its extremity a bird made of red jacynth." On hearing this
Mu'tasim ordered a search for the jewelled bird and threatened the
superintendent of the treasury with death if he failed to find it. But
as it was, the bird was found within the hour and it was set in the bough.
Emerald is a soft stone and cannot bear the length of a cubit unless
something hard and resembling it is fixed to it, so that it is safe from
wear and tear. It is possible that it might be compounded of segments
and sections whose proximity and similarity might strengthen it. Nevertheless an iron wire should be made to pass through the perforations,
so that the stones are kept joined to each other. An easy and apparent
device to keep the emerald stones intact is to thread them together after
perforation.
Khatibi writes:
Zahir bin al-Hakim, the ruler of Egypt, had three strange-looking
pearls fixed to the folds of his turban on the occasion of the 'Id day.
He had a cubit-long ferrule in his hand. It was made of emerald and
was as thick as the human fingers. Instead of a handle, it had three
pearls dangling. These pearls were like the pearls in his turban.
He further says:
There is an edifice made of white stones in Ikhmim in Egypt. It is
said to be the capital of the ancient Greeks. It is one of the pyramids
of Upper Egypt. Its length is 54 and breadth, 34 dhira'. The walls
on the upper side are divided off into three sections. The upper portions of the walls have the pictures of animals engraved, while the
lower portions have the pictures of human beings with inscriptions
underneath. No one can understand these inscriptions today.
Khatibi further avers that he had heard from an Egyptian that the
middle of the arches of the building were stuffed with emeralds, and
each filling was worth a cubit.
There are other fables and legends like the earlier ones. One of them
is ascribed to Jayhani in the Kitab al-Masalik (The Book of Routes). In
Rome there is the Church of St. Stephen, the Prince of Martyrs. Its
sacrificial altar is made of emerald. It is twenty cubits long and six
cubits broad. It is supported by twelve gold images, each image being
two and a half cubits long and having the eyes of red jacynth. The
Church has twenty-eight doors of gold and a thousand doors of jewel-like
stones, to say nothing of wooden doors.
