Note 154 — Chapter VIII

M’drob is an idiom in the Arabic language somewhat difficult to render into English; it is well known that the Mohammedans are predestinarians, and that they believe in the existence of spirits, devils, &c. their idea of the plague is, that it is a good or blessing sent from God to clear the world of a superfluous population—that no medicine or precaution can cure or prevent it; that every one who is to be a victim to it is (mktube) recorded in the Book of Fate; that there are certain Genii who preside over the fate of men, and who sometimes discover themselves in various forms, having often legs similar to those of fowls; that these Genii are armed with arrows: that when a person is attacked by the plague, which is called in Arabic l’amer, or the destiny or decree, he is shot by one of these Genii, and the sensation of the invisible wound is similar to that from a musquet-ball; hence the universal application of M’drob to a person afflicted with the plague, i.e. he is shot; and if he die, ufah ameruh, his destiny is completed or terminated (in this world). I scarcely ever yet saw the Mooselmin who did not affirm that he had at some time of his life seen these Genii, and they often appear, they say, in rivers.