The above relation made me desirous of witnessing a similar performance during my first visit to this country; but not being acquainted with the name of the magician here alluded to, or his place of abode, I was unable to obtain any tidings of him. I learned, however, soon after my return to England, that he had become known to later travellers in Egypt; was residing in Cairo; and that he was called the sheykh ’Abd-El-Kádir El-Maghrab′ee. A few weeks after my second arrival in Egypt, my neighbour ’Osmán, interpreter of the British consulate, brought him to me; and I fixed a day for his visiting me, to give me a proof of the skill for which he is so much famed. He came at the time appointed, about two hours before noon; but seemed uneasy; frequently looking up at the sky, through the window; and remarked that the weather was unpropitious: it was dull and cloudy; and the wind was boisterous. The experiment was performed with three boys; one after another. With the first, it was partly successful; but with the others, it completely failed. The magician said that he could do nothing more that day; and that he would come in the evening of a subsequent day. He kept his appointment; and admitted that the time was favourable. While waiting for my neighbour, before mentioned, to come and witness the performances, we took pipes and coffee; and the magician chatted with me on indifferent subjects. He is a fine, tall, and stout man, of a rather fair complexion, with a dark brown beard; is shabbily dressed; and generally wears a large green turban, being a descendant of the Prophet. In his conversation, he is affable and unaffected. He professed to me that his wonders were effected by the agency of good spirits; but to others, he has said the reverse: that his magic is satanic.
In preparing for the experiment of the magic mirror of ink, which, like some other performances of a similar nature, is here termed “darb el-mendel,” the magician first asked me for a reed-pen and ink, a piece of paper, and a pair of scissors; and, having cut off a narrow strip of paper, wrote upon it certain forms of invocation, together with another charm, by which he professes to accomplish the object of the experiment. He did not attempt to conceal these; and on my asking him to give me copies of them, he readily consented, and immediately wrote them for me; explaining to me, at the same time, that the object he had in view was accomplished through the influence of the two first words, “Tarshun” and “Taryooshun,”[[396]] which, he said, were the names of two genii, his “familiar spirits.” I compared the copies with the originals; and found that they exactly agreed. Facsimiles of them are here inserted, with a translation.
MAGIC INVOCATION AND CHARM.
“Tarshun! Taryooshun! Come down!
Come down! Be present! Whither are gone
the prince and his troops? Where are El-Ahmar
the prince and his troops? Be present
ye servants of these names!”
“And this is the removal. ‘And we have removed from thee