1 ALCHYMY AND MAGIC
2 nsottlolbr maint«ining thdrUgk veputatioD) wm gtett aiulerity of
3 Mb ; th^ are flddom'TCiy learned, and the two emineDt ntnts that I
4 saw, were 6ree from every kind of afl^talion.aii|i grimace, and onlj
5 4irtingwiahed &om other people by the tupmm mildneeB of their
6 manners.*
7 The belief in these false saints is not the only superstition of the
8 Afghauns : manv instances of their credulity appear in my journal,
9 but I may mention Mnue here, which X have not noticed in tiuit
10 place.
11 ' AW thr At'^rlKiuns i)rlit ve in aiehymy and magic, in which wtsthey
12 think tlie Indians great adepts. The King's Iniaum was continually
13 in pursuit of the phil<M!opher's stone; and when I was at Peahawer, he
14 was diligently engaged in seardi of it, a;^isted by an Indian Miusul-
15 man who had ktely retmned from Mecca. Many invectives are
16 leveBed et ddmt in the Sjotaim, jet the Ikaanm apent part of every
17 dsjr in superintending it, wasted agood.deal ofimoiMgr on tfae pier
18 paratioosi and trealwl his eoacjjwfar with the utmoat oonfidenee' and
19 atteDtioii*
20 Anativeof Feshawerof aboot sixty yean 'oid, who is now in my
21 scmoe^ 6D in love sane tiine ago.with agiil of Foonat and he was
22 diaoowvd within t|pi» week by some of his ooontiyniens closeted wUh
23 '* Haujee Mcean, one of die gtwrteit saints nt Peshawer, sent to me to beg Aat I
24 would tell him what severities were prncdaed by tlie g(Klly in Europe; his mf^nirp was
25 unluckily entrusted to a Persian who attended the mission on the King's part, and who
26 finom hit religion, oonld have no great reverence fiw devotees of the Soonnee persua^
27 sion. Accordingly, when I told him that our clergy peifermed no austerities, but thought
28 they recommended them sol vp5i to Go<I by leading a virtuous and religious life: he
29 begged me aot to disappoint the holy nuui, but to favour him with a few penances in
30 which he ra^t imddge hia teaL I then md Aat there mm other paru of Eorope
31 where the devout exposed t1ipm«( !\ ( < to 'jrcnt stttflFering«^ . rriu! nirntionedall I could recol-
32 lect of hair bhirts and tlagellatiuii. The Persian thanked me with a mischievouii smile, said
33 1w WM am die Huu^ ^mM be MUfljIy obliged to and took hi* Icsve^ cndently
34 IploMed «^ the aanMOMm he bad pnenNd fer bk enplog^
35 V
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