5. Compare the account of the marriage of the _tulasî_ shrub (_Ocymum sanctum_) with the sâlagrâm stone, or fossil ammonite, in Chapter 19, _post_. 6. There is a sublime passage in the Psalms of David, where the lightning is said to be the arrows of God. Psalm lxxvii: 17, 'The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. 18. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven; the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.' [W. H. S.] The passage is quoted from the Authorized Bible version; the Prayer Book version is finer. 7. 'We guard them from every devil driven away with stones; except him who listeneth by stealth, at whom a visible flame is darted.' Korân, chapter 15, Sale's translation. See _post_, end of this chapter. 8. Nine Hindoos out of ten, or perhaps ninety-nine in a hundred, throughout India, believe the rainbow to arise from the breath of the snake, thrown up from the surface of the earth, as water is thrown up by whales from the surface of the ocean. [W. H. S,] 9. '_Mishkât_ is a hole in a wall in which a lamp is placed, and _Masâbih_ the plural of "a lamp", because traditions are compared to lamps, and this book is like that which containeth a lamp. Another reason is, that _Masâbih_ is the name of a book, and this book comprehends its contents' (Matthews's translation, vol. i, p. v, note). 10. The full title is _Mishkât-ul-Masâbih, or a Collection of the most Authentic Traditions regarding the Actions and Sayings of Muhammed; exhibiting the Origin of the Manners and Customs; the Civil, Religious, and Military Policy of the Muslemâns_. Translated from the original Arabic by Captain A. N. Matthews, Bengal Artillery. Two vols. 4to; Calcutta, 1809-10, This valuable work, published by subscription, is now very scarce. A fine copy is in the India Office Library. 11. Book xxi, chapter 3, part i; vol. ii, p. 384. The quotations as given by the author are inexact. The editor has substituted correct extracts from Matthews's text. Matthews spells the name of the prophet's widow as Aáyeshah. 12. In Sparta, the Ephoroi, once every nine years, watched the sky during a whole cloudless, moonless night, in profound silence; and, if they saw a shooting star, it was understood to indicate that the kings of Sparta had disobeyed the gods, and their authority was, in consequence, suspended till they had been purified by an oracle from Delphi or Olympia. [W. H. S.] This statement rests on the authority of Plutarch, _Agis_, 11. 13. _Mishkât_. Part iii of same chapter; vol. ii, p. 386. 14. Ibid. p. 386.