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Dost thou wish to be polled or to be blooded? Indeed it was a

tradition of Ibn Abbas[FN#610] (Allah accept of him!) that the

Apostle said, 'Whoso cutteth his hair on a Friday, the Lord shall

avert from him threescore and ten calamities;' and again is

related of him also that he said, 'Cupping on a Friday keepeth

from loss of sight and a host of diseases.'" "Leave this talk," I

cried; "come, shave me my head at once for I can't stand it." So

he rose and put forth his hand in most leisurely way and took out

a kerchief and unfolded it, and lo! it contained an

astrolabe[FN#611] with seven parallel plates mounted in silver.

Then he went to the middle of the court and raised head and

instrument towards the sun's rays and looked for a long while.