Semitic magic : its origins and development

CORNELIANS AS AMULETS. Ixiii
S. 504 is an incantation of the same kind
Siptli. KI-KI-KI
zu-zu-zu
KA-KA-KA-KA
EN-EN-EN-EN-EN-EN-EN ....
BUR-BUR-BUR-BUR
It is not infrequent to find that a natural desire to
calculate the efficacy of amulets leads to tests such as
artificers will subject their armour-plate to. The Magharby
of the Sinaitic Peninsula make an amulet of a strip
of parchment, the same length as the man for whose
protection it is intended, and covered with writing. It
is then fastened on an animal as a trial of its potency,
and a bullet fired at it. If the animal escapes, the charm
has proved its worth, and can be trusted against anything
but a silver bullet, against which no amulet is known.
I heard of similar tests in Mosul, the writing being tied
to a fowl, and the fowl shot at.^ Judging by the average
Arab markmanship with a revolver (or rifle, for that
matter, unless fired from a rest), the amulet should prove
satisfactory in nine cases out of ten.
In Egypt and the Soudan, and probably still further
eastward, small pierced cornelians in the shape of arrow-
heads are worn threaded on necklets. I believe that this
is a superstition that can be traced to the Assyrian medical
texts. In these latter incantations there are directions
given for threading certain stones on hair to be worn by
the patient who is apparently suffering from rheumatism.
The name of these signifies * wheat-stones,' and they
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1 W. E. Jennings-Bramley, P.E.F., 1906, 198.
2 Folklore of Mossoul, F.S.B.A., 1906, 81.
^