V. 3. In the Dabistan we read: “My spirit shall not always take patience with man;” other versions have: “shall not always remain,” or “strive with man.”
V. 5. is omitted in the Dabistan.
The notice given in the Dabistan of the opinions of the Jews will be found very incomplete and inaccurate, inasmuch as it is exhibited without a due distinction of the different Jewish sects, to which they may be attributed. For a far better account of the Jews, see that of Makrisi, given in the “Chrestomathie arabe” of Silvestre de Sacy (vol. I. pp. 284-369), with the various explanatory notes of that celebrated orientalist.
[484] Tata is a town belonging to the Amírs of Sind, the capital of a district of the same name, and situated near the banks of the Indus about 130 miles, by the course of the river, from the sea; lat. 22° 44´ N. long. 68° 17´ E.—(Hamilton’s East India Gazetteer.)
[486] Katéb, the name of the sultan, signifies the north pole; hence the author plays with the words kateb, “north,” naśif nahar, “midday,” and shám, “evening.”
[487] The author leaves us in a total uncertainty about the words to which he alludes; if to those of Isaiah, chap. LIII, vv. 2-12, the prophet would have predicted his own sufferings. According to the learned Jew, Isaac Orobio (see Israel vengé, ou Exposition naturelle des Prophéties que les Chrétiens appliquent à Jésus, leur prétendu Messie), the words of Isaiah, chap. LIII, are not to be referred to a single individual, but to the whole people of Israel.
CHAPTER V.
Of the religion of the Tarsá[488], containing three sections.