88 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
high
place in the esteem of the Arabs. Of the Black Stone, a native of Mecca
who saw the stone when it had been taken out of the wall of the
building, in the course of the latest restoration of the structure,
states that its inner surface is of a grayish hue.32
The
Kaaba also contained the Maquam Ibrahim, a sacred stone preserved from
pre-Islamite times, and brought into connection with the history of
Abraham by the Mohammedan legends. This stone, enclosed in a
receptacle of like material, was at one time buried in the ground
underneath the building, but receptacle and enclosed stone are now set
within the iron gratings which partition off a part of the space inside
the cupola over the pulpit of the Mosque of Mecca.*3
An
Oriental poem by Assmai detailing the wonderful exploits of the hero
Antar, describes the way in which he became possessed of a matchless
sword. One day he came upon two knights in desperate encounter; on
seeing him they paused in their strife and to his question as to its
cause one of the combatants told him that they were brothers, sons of a
great Arab emir, recently deceased. Their father had once found a black
stone, in appearance like a common pebble, but possessed of such
penetrative power that when a herdsman threw it at a camel it traversed
the animal's body, inflicting a gaping wound. The emir immediately
recognized that the stone must be a "thunder-stone," as meteorites were
called; he therefore secured possession of it and commanded his most
skilful smiths to forge a sword from it. When this task had been
successfully performed the emir clothed the smith in a robe of honor,
and then, drawing the new sword from its sheath, cut off his head with
a single stroke. This served at once as a test of
·» Dr. C. Snouck-Hurgronje, " Mekka," Haag, 1888, vol. i, pp. 2, 4, 5. » Op. cit., p. 11.
