[291]. Mos. Chorene, i. 9.
[292]. Müller, Glauben u. Wissen. d. Hindus; Mainz, 1822, i. p. 303.
[293]. Allgem. Hist. d. Reisen, vi. p. 602.
[294]. Luken, p. 287; Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 517, &c.
[295]. Humboldt, Ansichten d. Cordilleren, i. p. 42.
[296]. For the Rabbinic traditions relating to Abraham I am indebted to the exhaustive monograph of Dr. B. Beer, “Leben Abraham’s nach Auffassung der jüdischen Sage,” Leipzig, 1859, to which I must refer my readers for references to Jewish books, which are given with an exactitude which leaves nothing to be desired.
[297]. Weil, p. 69.
[298]. The Mussulman history of the patriarch relates that Azar brought Abraham before Nimrod and said, “This is thy God who made all things.” “Then why did he not make himself less ugly?” asked Abraham,—for Nimrod had bad features.
[299]. The Mussulman story, which is precisely the same as the Jewish, adds that the camels refused to bear wood to form the pyre, but cast it on the ground; therefore Abraham blessed the camels. But the mules had no compunction, therefore he cursed them that they should be sterile. The birds who flew over the fire were killed, the city was enveloped in its smoke, and the crackling of its flames could be heard a day’s journey off.
[300]. Weil, p. 73.