not like to stay in 'Iraq after the departure of his master. When the
Caliph Mutawakkil swore he would have him sent to Rome, he said:
"This is hajar al-halq. It acts as a depilator and makes the use of lime redundant. " When people tried the stone upon their wrists, it removed the
hair. Mutawakkil was mightily pleased and had the slave sent to Rome.
The slave, before his departure, said: "Since you have fulfilled your promise, let it be known that in order to keep the stone sharp, each year it is
dipped in the warm blood of a goat." When this procedure was followed
a year later, it was found that the stone had lost its efficiency totally-
Salami has narrated a tradition which originated with Ahmad bin alWalid Farisi that there is a race among the Hindus known as Dipal. These
people are black and act as guides for boats and ships on the sea. They
have a stone having many small perforations. When they scrub their
bodies with it, it acts like lime and takes out the hair by their roots.
It is God Who prospers and assists.
THE RAIN STONE
In the Kitab al-Khawas (The Book of Properties) Razi writes:
There is a valley between Khurlukh and Bajnak in Turkestan. When
troops or cattle herds pass through it, the hooves of the horses and
goats are wrapped in wool, and they are driven slowly so that they
do not crush the stones, as the result of which black clouds would
appear and a heavy shower would follow. People can bring about
rain through these stones whenever they wish. A man goes into
water with the stone of this valley in his hands, and moves them
about to bring about rain.
This has not been stated by Ibn Zakariyya only. There is no dispute
among the authors in narrating this story.
In the Kitab al-Nukhab it has been said that rain stone is found in a
forest beyond the Khurlukh valley. It is blackish and slightly reddish.
Such stories and legends gain currency when the people of different
regions meet each other. Khurlukh, as has been mentioned by people, is
an archaeological relic in our age. Between it and Pajnaka, the intervening area is so vast that there appears as big a gap between the two as
between the East and the West.
A Turk brought to me a stone. He thought I would concede to what
he would say without any argument. I told him: "All right, make rainfall through it, but only in the season when it does not rain and make the
rain fall on different occasions when I ask you to do so. I would then
purchase this stone from you, and, in fact, will not only fulfil your wish
but give you much more. "
He put the stones inside water, and threw the powder skywards. He
