the bar of iron rolled on the ground in two pieces, as a woodsman would sever a sapling with a hedging-bill. "By the head of the Prophet, a most wonderful blow!" said the Soldan, critically and accurately [...] exercise his strength, he saw a steel mace held by one of the attendants, the handle being of the same metal, and about an inch and a half in diameter. This he placed on a block of wood. The anxiety [...] into a mass consisting of nought but bone, brawn, and sinew. He unsheathed his scimitar, a curved and narrow blade, which glittered not like the swords of the Franks, but was, on the contrary, of a dull