Note 118 — Chapter XI

Túba, says Herbelot, according to the Commentators of the Koran, is a word derived from the Ethiopian language, and means properly “eternal beatitude.” The Tuba, as the heavenly lotos tree, or tree of life, occurs in all mythologies, in the Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, and Scandinavian. This tree is represented upon the coffin of a mummy which exists in the imperial cabinet of Vienna; a deity pours out from its branches the paradisiacal fountain, which, according to the Muhammedans, issues from the roots of the tree of life.—(See The Mines of Orient, vol. V.)