[3] The Abyssinian law of detaining guests,--Pedro Covilhao the first
Portuguese envoy (A.D. 1499) lived and died a prisoner there,--appears to
have been the Christian modification of the old Ethiopic rite of
sacrificing strangers.

[4] It would be wonderful if Orientals omitted to romance about the origin
of such an invention as the Dayrah or compass. Shaykh Majid is said to
have been a Syrian saint, to whom Allah gave the power of looking upon
earth, as though it were a ball in his hand. Most Moslems agree in
assigning this origin to the Dayrah, and the Fatihah in honor of the holy
man, is still repeated by the pious mariner.

Easterns do not "box the compass" after our fashion: with them each point
has its own name, generally derived from some prominent star on the
horizon. Of these I subjoin a list as in use amongst the Somal, hoping
that it may be useful to Oriental students. The names in hyphens are those
given in a paper on the nautical instrument of the Arabs by Jas. Prinseps
(Journal of the As. Soc., December 1836). The learned secretary appears
not to have heard the legend of Shaykh Majid, for he alludes to the
"Majidi Kitab" or Oriental Ephemeris, without any explanation.

North Jah [Arabic] East Matla [Arabic]
N. by E. Farjad [Arabic] E. by S. Jauza [Arabic]
(or [Arabic]) E.S.E. Tir [Arabic]
N.N.E. Naash [Arabic] S.E. by E. Iklil [Arabic]
N.E. by E. Nakab [Arabic] S.E. Akrab [Arabic]
N.E. Ayyuk [Arabic] S.E. by S. Himarayn [Arabic]
N.E. by E. Waki [Arabic] S.S.E. Suhayl [Arabic]
E.N.E. Sumak [Arabic] S. by E. Suntubar [Arabic]
E. by N. Surayya [Arabic] (or [Arabic])