Magic and clairvoyance were subjects in which he was deeply interested. At Qasr Dakhl he said there was a boy, about twenty-three years of age, who was much consulted by the natives of the oasis when they had lost anything, wanted information about treasure or wished to have the future foretold.
The boy had a familiar—a female afrit (spirit)—who sometimes appeared to him during the night. He always knew when she was coming, as he felt drowsy and stupid for a day or two beforehand. After her visit he remained in a clairvoyant state for some hours. He would let it be known beforehand that he was expecting a visit from his afrita, and those who wanted information would then apply to him. When she arrived he would question her. Sometimes she replied verbally, but usually he saw or heard the answer to the question while in the clairvoyant condition following her visit. The doctor, who had seen the medium, said he judged him to be epileptic.
He told me the following extraordinary story, which I am sure he believed himself. He was once called in to see the wife of a famous Sheykh el Afrit (magician) living near Cairo—at Zeitun. She complained to him that her husband neglected her in favour of his familiar spirit, a male afrit, to whom he was always speaking. The doctor, when he saw the husband—an old Maghrabi Arab, called ’Abd ul Atif—began chaffing him about this, and asked him to foretell something that he wanted to know. ’Abd ul Atif promised to do so, if he would come round some day and bring a young boy with him. The doctor selected a boy that he knew, and took him round to the magician’s house. The Sheykh el Afrit sat him down on a divan, and placed the boy on another facing him at some distance away. He then seated himself at the other end of the room, where he began banging the end of his staff in a rhythmic manner on the floor.
The boy almost at once began to get drowsy, and after about two minutes shrieked and fell to the ground. The doctor rushed across to examine him; found that he showed every sign of asphyxiation and thought that he was dying. But the magician assured him that he was in no danger, and told him to question the boy in any language that he liked. The doctor began to interrogate him in English—that he knew for certain that the boy was unable to speak. The boy replied in the same language, and the answers to the questions that he gave came true, except for some minor particulars. After this séance the boy was ill for a month, during which time he attended him!
Through the agency of the doctor, I was able to see a performance of the mandal, or clairvoyance by means of a pool of ink, performed by the magician from Smint previously mentioned.[16] I suggested that we might get hold of him and make him do the mandal, so he undertook to interview him and arrange it.
Soon after the magician and doctor came round to my house together. The Sheykh el Afrit carried a staff in one hand and a rosary in the other. He came up the stairs on to the housetop muttering what I presumed were incantations. He was a burly looking individual, with a large flabby face and small cunning eyes. He condescended to partake of some tea, and then we got down to business and I asked whether he would perform the mandal.
He expressed his willingness to do so, and promised that he would go through the performance provided that there was a bright sun and no wind—conditions that he said were indispensable for a successful séance. He suggested that we should have a young boy brought round to meet him, to play the part of the tahdir, i.e. the one who gazes into the magic mirror.
The magician was at great pains to explain that he did not deal at all in black magic, though he said that he knew all about it.
We were anxious for him to start doing his magic art at once; but that he declared to be impossible, as he had not got the right kind of incense with him to use in the dawa (invocation). He told us that it was of the first importance that the correct sort should be used, as otherwise the Genii would get angry and might kill him, or even destroy the whole house. He explained that there were many kinds of perfume employed in magic, according to the nature of the dawa (invocation) for which they were intended.
