Note 33 — Introductory material
Edward William Lane translation
In Ibn-Esh-Sheḥneh, "Kuyoothán:" the orthography of this word is doubtful, as the vowel-points are not written. As the tradition is related in Ibn-El-Wardee, this bull takes a breath twice in the course of every day (or twenty-four hours); when he exhales, the sea flows; and when he inhales, it ebbs. But it must not be imagined that none of the Arabs have any notion of the true theory of the tides: the more learned among them explain this phenomenon by the influence of the moon.—Many of the Arabs attribute earthquakes to the shaking of this bull.