phers in Europe
thought about them.

I explained to him the supposed distance and bulk of the fixed stars
visible to the naked eye; their being radiant with unborrowed light,
and probably every one of them, like our own sun, the great centre of
a solar system of its own; embracing the vast orbits of numerous
planets, revolving around it with their attendant satellites; the
stars visible to the naked eye being but a very small portion of the
whole which the telescope had now made distinctly visible to us; and
those distinctly visible being one cluster among many thousand with
which the genius of Galileo, Newton, the Herschells, and many other
modern philosophers had discovered the heavens to be studded. I
remarked that the notion that these mighty suns, the centres of
planetary systems, should be made merely to be thrown at devils and
demons, appeared to us just as unaccountable as those of the Hindoos
regarding Indra's arrows.

'But', said he, 'these foolish Hindoos believe still greater
absurdities. They believe that the rainbow is nothing but the fume of
a large snake, concealed under the ground; that he vomits forth this
fume from a hole in the surface of the earth, without being himself
seen; and, when you ask them why, in that case, the rainbow should be
in the west while the sun is in the east, and in the east while the
sun is in the west, they know not what to say.'[8]

'The truth is, my friend Maulavi Sahib, the Hindoos, like a very
great part of every other nation, are very much disposed to attribute
to supernatural influences effects that the wiser portion of our
species know to rise from natural causes.'

The Maulavi was right. In the _Mishkat-ul-Masabih_,[9] the authentic
traditions of their prophet,[10] it is stated that Ayesha, the widow
of Muhammad, said, 'I heard His Majesty say, "The angels come down to
the region next the world, and mention the works that have been pre-
ordained in heaven; and the devils, who descend to the lowest region,
listen to what the angels say, and hear the orders predestined in
heaven, and carry them to fortune-tellers; therefore, they tell a
hundred lies with it from themselves "'[11]

'Ibn Abbas said, "A man of His Majesty's friends informed me, that
whilst His Majesty's friends were sitting with him one night, a very
bright star shot; and His Highness said, "What did you say in the
days of ignorance when a star shot like this?" They said, "God and
His messenger know