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Or a few handfuls of the weed
Scarce sanctioned by the Moslem creed —*
Treasures which kings would gladly own.
'Neath sacks of gold his camels groan, —
Those shining sands the Jinn have rolled
From mountain caverns dark and cold,
Down crystal streams to plains below,
There in the tropic fires to glow ;
Her plumes are from the ostrich rent,
Nor spared the lordly elephant.
Even man — his brother man — the pains
Of death must feel, to swell his gains.
Tribe against tribe doth lift the spear,
None deems a trinket bought too dear,
If but some wretched captive may
The price with life-long service pay.
* It was long a question among the doctors of the Mohammedan law
whether tobacco was not virtually forbidden to the faithful, as an intox-
icating drug. The use of tobacco was made a highly penal offence by
some of the Turkish sultans.
