was something like the rose. I have already mentioned articles that were
sent as gifts to the Ka'aba: among these were ruby bottles. Perhaps they
were made of adhrak. Besides Al-Kindi, other writers have said:
Red and yellow arsenic trisulphide, one part each; Kirmanian vitriol,
one-fourth part; and Egyptian glass-sand, one part; were bruised
thoroughly by the artisans and mixed. They were then soaked in
vinegar, placed in a jar, the mouth of which was tied tightly. The iar
was buried in an oven which was heated by cow-dung fire. The oven
was covered by earth, left overnight, and the product was taken out
of the oven.
Some persons have claimed that they prepared the green kind by taking
one part each of borax and sand and added one part of calcined copper
to 1/120th part of each (of the green kind).
The following procedure has been described in works whose authors
are unknown:
Take a large piece of high-quality and hard realgar; soak it in the
urine of the cow for three weeks. Place it upon a distillation still
which is kept upon hot ash. Add as much molten lead as would remain above the realgar and then spray sulphur. When there are
flames bursting forth, invert the still into the ash and bury it in the
same ash. Leave it till it cools; take out the realgar, peel it and make
gems from it.
The author of the Kitab al-Nukhab has mentioned a stone whose
name he has given as Darnuk. It is, according to him, pale-reddish, very
rare, delicate and belongs to the Alexandrian age as to its casting.
Fasisafa is not among the stones that are cast. It comprises grains of
gems which are gilded with silver or gold, and are embedded in the walls
of buildings in Syria,
Among the stones cast in the mould (masbukat), Al-Kindi has described a stone known 'ayn al-sinnr (the cat's eye). He has said that it is
found among buried treasures of Egypt and are shells having the graphic
illustrations of animals. Small, coloured and grains are occasionally
found by the prospectors among Egyptian treasures. These are known as
quburiyah.
The Yemenite people used to dig the ground and make long houses.
These were the graves which we find described in treatises on history and
geography, although their writings and verses are based upon lies. The
swords, called quburiyahs, are found among these treasures.
A king of the Yemen decided to invade China. His army, however,
had an accident, and it became divided into two parts. One part of the
army liked the region where this division had occurred, viz., Tibet. The
other party returned with spoils and slaves home.
It is said that the party which left Yemenite army and settled in
