LETTER XVI. Usbek to Mollak Mehemet Ali, Guardian of the Three Tombs, at Com.

WHY dost thou live, divine Mollak, in the tombs? Thou art better made for the abode of the stars. Thou doubtless hidest thyself through fear of obscuring the sun; thou hast no spots like that star, yet like him thou art covered with clouds. Thy knowledge is an abyss deeper than the ocean; thy wit more piercing than Zufagar, the sword of Hali, which had two points; thou art acquainted with what passes in the nine choirs of the celestial powers. Thou readest the Koran on the breast of our holy prophet, and when thou findest any obscure passage, an angel, at his command, spreads his rapid wings, to descend from the throne, to reveal to thee the secret. I may, by thy means, have an intimate correspondence with the seraphim, for, in short, thou thirteenth Iman, art thou not the centre where heaven and earth meet, the point of communication between the abyss and the empyreal heaven? I am in the middle of a profane people; permit that I may purify myself with thee; suffer me to turn my face towards thy holy place where thou dwellest. Distinguish me from the wicked, as the white thread is distinguished from the black; at the rising of Aurora, aid me with thy councils; take care of my soul; make it to drink of the spirit of the prophets; feed it with the science of Paradise, and permit that I display its wounds at thy feet. Address thy holy letters to me at Erzeron; where I shall continue some months.

Erzeron, the 11th of the moon of the 2d Gemmadi,
1711.