Note 193 — HOW ABU HASAN BRAKE WIND.

i.e., of the Province Hazramaut, the Biblical Hazarmaveth (Gen. x. 26). The people are the Swiss of Arabia and noted for thrift and hard bargains; hence the saying, If you meet a serpent and a Hazrami, slay the Hazrami. To prove how ubiquitous they are it is related that a man, flying from their society, reached the uttermost parts of China where he thought himself safe. But, as he was about to pass the night in some ruin, he heard a voice hard by him exclaim, O ‘Imád al-Din! (the name of the patron-saint of Hazramaut). Thereupon he arose and fled and he is, they say, flying still.