that its mine is in the mountain of Zarand within the boundaries of Kirman.
Hamzah and Nasr have described fine kinds of the stones. These are
white, yellow, green, dusty and abrasive. Nasr has, however, selected
the dusty kind. He has prescribed a dose of twelve barley grains for the
poisonous kind. The author of the Kitab al-Nukhab says that one kind
of it is beet green and pale, while another kind is reddish-white. One
kind is thin and has something filled inside it. It is called the snot of
Satan and the Warlock's thread. It also does not catch fire. Abu alHasan al-Tabari al-Turunji says:
There is a coloured stone which appears to have been made from
wax, lime and earth. All the three stones are glossy. If rubbed upon
a stone in conjunction with turmeric, it gives off a liquid which is
like fresh blood. Its poultice is very effective against bites of poisonous animals. Bezoar-like stones are brought from Tus. While they
look like the bezoar stone, they are of no medicinal use and are employed in making handles of walking sticks.
Different methods for testing it have been described in books. It is
useful to copy them, although they are not established methods inasmuch as they have not been continually tested. One is that its dust is
thrown into milk. If it congeals, the stone in question is genuine and
good, otherwise it is useless. The next method is that a soft bezoar stone
is rubbed upon a stone and then upon another bezoar. It is genuine if its
colour turns to red. This is according to the earlier statement by Abu alHasan Turunji. The third method is that it should be rubbed with vinegar and then thrown upon the ground. If it swells, it would be good.
The fourth method is that it is thrown into the yolk of an egg or into a
viscous oil. If it makes both melt, and attenuates both of them, it is of a
high quality. The fifth mode of testing it is to throw it upon a leaf, if it
alters, its genuineness is assured. But it boils and swells if thrown upon
the ground and treated with vinegar. 'Utarid bin Muhammad says that it
'"perspires" if placed before the sun and begins to bleed. I take it that
this stone would be hamra.
Stories pertaining to Bezoar
Uninflammable garments were made from the threads of tenuous
bezoars that had their cavities plugged with satan's snot. This is the same
cloth which the Khusraws of Persia called adharshust (that is, washed
with fire). Thus the word, shnst, also began to be applied to the clothes
not made with bezoar, although they were burnt by fire.
In A.H. 390 Ustad Hurmuz, the Commander of the forces during the
war at Kirman, was brought a white shustukah from the side of Zarand
