the Persians, they also perhaps borrowed the word which best described them. It was natural for the Arabs to find a meaning in their own language for the word, just as in a similar way asparagus has become "sparrow-grass," renegade "runagate," the girasole a "Jerusalem" artichoke, or in Greek the Arabic word wadi, having become Hellenized under the form οασις, was supposed to come from αυω— doubtless on the lucus a non lucendo principle. Firdaus itself, one of the words in the Qur'an for "Paradise," is a Persian word; and several words from that ¹ language occur in the passages which we have translated above. It is not, however, of any real importance to ascertain the derivation of the word Hur. The beings whom the word is intended to express are of distinctly Aryan origin, as are the Ghilman. The Hindus believe in the existence of both, calling the Huris in Sanskrit Apsarasas, and the Ghilman Gandharvas. They were supposed to dwell principally in the sky, though often visiting the earth.

Muslim historians relate many tales which show how much the prospect of receiving a welcome from the Huris in Paradise cheered many an ardent young Muhammadan warrior to rush boldly to his death in battle. This belief is very similar to the ancient Aryan idea as to the reward of those who died on the field with all their wounds

in front. For Manu says in his Dharmasastra: "Earth-lords ¹ contending in battles, mutually desirous of killing one another, not averting their faces, thereafter through their prowess go to heaven." So also in the Nalopakhyanam we find Indra saying to the hero Nala: "Just ² guardians of the earth (i. e. kings), warriors who have abandoned (all hope of) life, who in due time by means of a weapon go to destruction without averting their faces — theirs is this imperishable world" — the heaven of Indra. Nor were such ideas confined to India, for our own northern ancestors used in heathen days to believe that the heavenly Valkyries, or "Selectors of the Slain," would visit ³ the field of battle and bear thence to the heaven of Odhin, to Valhalla, the "Hall of the Slain," the spirits of brave warriors who fell in the strife.

The Jinns are a kind of evil and malicious spirits which have great power and are a source of terror in many parts of the Muslim world. We have already seen ⁴ that they are said to have been subject to Solomon, and they are not unfrequently