sun, which dries up his pastures. The nomad calls himself 'Son of the water of heaven,' i.e. the rain. 'By banû mâ al-samâ (Sons of Rain),' says an Arabic commentator on Muslim's collection of traditions, 'the Arabs are to be understood . . . For as the greater part of them are owners of herds, they supported themselves mainly by the goodness of the pastures.'[1] Thus this appellation 'Sons of the water of heaven' could then come to have the general meaning 'rich people,' as e.g. in a sensible verse of ‘Anbar b. Samâk:[2]
falâ tathiḳan min-an-nauka bishay'in
walau kânû banî mâ'i-s-samâ'i:
'Confide thou not in anything in fools,
E'en were they sons of water of the heaven,'
i.e. however rich they might be. The Bedawî of Somali, Isa, call their Ogas, i.e. chief, by the name Roblai, which, according to Burton, denotes Prince of the Rain.[3]
The nomad must be constantly wandering and seeking good pasture, if he is to gain a comfortable position. The glowing heat of the sun is in this respect his terrible enemy and continual adversary.
The starry heaven by night and the moon he recognises as his friends and protectors; and he gladly welcomes the moment when these guardians overcome the enemy, and drive off the beaming sun, when noon is followed by afternoon, and the evening comes on with its cool breeze, on the track of the departed solar heat. Then he is delivered from the tiresome ḳail, 'midday sleep,' which the noon-day heat had brought on. He therefore likes best to begin his journey in the afternoon, and continues it till night or daring the night.[4] 'In their journeys and
- ↑ Al-Nawawî (the Cairo edition of Muslim's collection, with Commentary), V. 169.
- ↑ Kitâb al-aġânî XVI. 82 penult.
- ↑ Burton's First Footsteps in East Africa, London 1856, p. 174.
- ↑ See al-Nâbiġâ, XXXI. v. 4 (Derenbourg).
