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I keep Dhu al-Nuu with me. Below my mount is a roan-coloured
horse.
And again:
And Dhu al-Nun al-Saft, the beloved sword of 'Amr which braces itself against all ordeals.
The special sword of the Holy Prophet (sal'am), Dhu al-t-'aqar, was in the
possession of Munnabih bin Hajjaj. The Holy Prophet had chosen it for
himself at the Battle of Badr. All the swords forged from inferior steels
are known as kojarah. There are circles on the bodies of horse. Some of
these spherical marks are regarded as auspicious and others inauspicious.
One of them is called qali'.
This mark is said to portend misfortune. In the same way glittering
swords have black marks as if they are empty sections or segments. A
glittering sword has no design. If this segment is removed, the edge is
vitiated, and it is, therefore, not liked. If this black stripe runs from one
end of the sword to the other, the purchasers take evil omens from it. If
it is towards both sides of the sword, it is regarded as spelling an evil
omen for the enemy and if towards the hilt, for the owner.
(By writing) the Kitab al-Suyuf (The Book of the Swords), Al-KindT
has not done anything that would evoke gratitude from the ironsmith,
Dimashqi. The latter had already installed a furnace for making steel,
devised crucibles, and had chosen their sizes all by himself. He had also
selected the clays from which the crucibles were to be baked. He had
ordered his men to put five rath horse-shoes and the nails thereof made
of cast iron into these crucibles. Ten dirhams by weight of golden iron
pyrites, antimony and soft magnesia each were to be added (to this mixture). The crucibles were coated with clay and thrown into the furnace.
The hearth was filled with coals to the brim and they were heated by
means of Roman bellows. Each of the bellows had two wheels fixed to
it to make it mobile. The melted iron used to revolve. He also used to
prepare bags having chebulic myrobalans, pomegranate peels, edible salt,
and roughly ground mother-of-pearl powder. Each item weighed equally
and each bag weighed 40 dirhams. Each bag was placed in the crucible,
and the bellows were made to drive air into the fire rather forcefully for
an hour. These crucibles were left to cool, and the ingots were taken out
of them.
A person who had visited Sind told me that he was sitting by the side
of a sabre-maker. He saw that the ironsmith had cast iron and he was
spraying a chemical upon it. The chemical was reddish and very pleasing.
He sprayed the chemical upon it thoroughly, and then dipped the iron
into water so that the iron may absorb the chemical well. He then took
out the iron, pounded it and stretched it. He used to repeat this process
many times. When asked what this chemical was, the ironsmith looked
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