346 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
tvuzra, "the look," and nafs, "breath
or spirit." It is not commonly regarded as the result of a definite
malevolent intention, but rather as an effect engendered by envy at the
sight of anything especially beautiful or attractive. Indeed, sometimes
the bare expression of great admiration is supposed to produce evil
results, as is illustrated by the assertion that when a man, on seeing
an exceptionally large and fine stone, exclaimed, "What a large stone
!" it immediately broke into three pieces.
In
the Sahara, the horns of oxen, and sometimes their skulls with the
horns attached, are set over the entrances of dwellings to protect the
residents from this dreaded influence ; in Tunis and Algiers, boars '
tusks are also used in this way. However, the most favored weapons of
defence are the outstretched fingers of the hand, sometimes but two
fingers, but more often all five. The gesture of holding out the
fingers toward the envious person is frequently accompanied by the
utterance of the words : Khamsa fi ainek, "five (fingers) in your eye!" The number five has thus acquired such a special significance that Thursday, as the fifth day
of the week, is looked upon as the appropriate day for pilgrimages to
the shrines of those saints whose protection against the Evil Eye is
believed to be most potent.51
The
Arabs of Arabia Petrsea believe that when anyone casts longing and
covetous eyes upon any animal belonging to another, part of his soul
enters the animal and the latter is doomed to destruction if it remains
in the possession of the rightful owner. The same idea prevails in the
case of a child whose possession is envied, or who is unduly admired.
Where the identity of the one who has cast the spell is known, there is
a fair chance of rendering it harmless if a piece of the guilty one's
garment can be stolen and the animal or child rubbed with it. The
virtue of coral as a protection
« Edmond Douttë, " Magie et Religion," Alger, 1909, pp. 320 sqq.
