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amongst the Arabs; but had these been wanted, Carathis could not be supposed a stranger to it. The practice was to hail the gods, in the first place; and then, those who were held in the highest veneration.
Page 69.—the ass of Balaam, the dog of the seven sleepers, and the other animals admitted into the paradise of Mahomet.
It was a tenet of the Mussulman creed, that all animals would be raised again, and many of them honoured with admission to paradise. The story of the seven sleepers, borrowed from Christian legends, was this:—In the days of the Emperor Decius, there were certain Ephesian youths of a good family, who, to avoid the flames of persecution, fled to a secret cavern, and there slept for a number of years. In their flight towards the cave, they were followed by a dog, which, when they attempted to drive him back, said: "I love those who are dear unto God; go sleep, therefore, and I will guard you."—For this dog the Mahometans retain so profound a reverence, that their harshest sarcasm against a covetous person, is, "He would not throw a bone to the dog of the seven sleepers." It is even said, that their superstition induces them to
