wine she had bought was unpoisoned. Easterns, who utterly ignore the
"social glass" of Western civilisation, drink honestly to get drunk;
and, when far gone are addicted to horseplay (in Pers. "Badmasti"=_le
vin mauvais_) which leads to quarrels and bloodshed. Hence it is held
highly irreverent to assert of patriarchs, prophets and saints that
they "drank wine;" and Moslems agree with our "Teatotallers" in
denying that, except in the case of Noah, inebriatives are anywhere
mentioned in Holy Writ.
Footnote 157:
Arab. "Húr al-Ayn," lit. (maids) with eyes of lively white and black,
applied to the virgins of Paradise who will wive with the happy
Faithful. I retain our vulgar "Houri," warning the reader that it is
a masc. for a fem. ("Huríyah") in Arab, although accepted in Persian,
a genderless speech.
Footnote 158:
Arab. "Zambúr," whose head is amputated in female circumcision. See
Night cccclxxiv.
Footnote 159:
Ocymum basilicum noticed in Introduction; the bassilico of Boccaccio
iv. 5. The Book of Kalilah and Dimnah represents it as "sprouting
with something also whose smell is foul and disgusting and the sower
at once sets to gather it and burn it with fire." (The Fables of
Bidpai translated from the later Syriac version by I. G. N.
Keith-Falconer, etc., etc., etc., Cambridge University Press, 1885).
Here, however, Habk is a pennyroyal (_mentha puligium_), and probably
alludes to the pecten.
Footnote 160:
_i.e._ common property for all to beat.
Footnote 161:
"A digit of the moon" is the Hindú equivalent.
Footnote 162:
Better known to us as Caravanserai, the "Travellers' Bungalow" of
India: in the Khan, however, shelter is to be had, but neither bed
nor board.
Footnote 163:
Arab. "Zubb." I would again note that this and its synonyms are the
equivalents of the Arabic, which is of the lowest. The tale-teller's
evident object is to accentuate the contrast with the tragical
stories to follow.
Footnote 164:
"In the name of Allah," is here a civil form of dismissal.
Footnote 165:
Lane (i. 124) is scandalized and naturally enough by this scene,
which is the only blot in an admirable tale admirably told. Yet even
here the grossness is but little more pronounced than what we find in
our old drama (_e.g._, Shakspeare's King Henry V.) written for the
stage, whereas tales like The Nights are not read or recited before
both sexes. Lastly "nothing follows all this palming work:" in Europe
the orgie would end very differently. These "nuns of Theleme" are
physically pure: their debauchery is of the mind, not the body.
Galland makes them five, including the two doggesses.
Footnote 166:
So Sir Francis Walsingham's "They which do that they should not,
should hear that they would not."
Footnote 167:
The old "Calendar," pleasantly associated with that form of almanac.
The Mac. Edit. has "Karandaliyah," a vile corruption, like Ibn
Batutah's "Karandar" and Torrens' "Kurundul:" so in English we have
the accepted vulgarism of "Kernel" for Colonel. The Bul. Edit. uses
for synonym "Su'ulúk"=an asker, a beggar. Of these mendicant monks,
for such they are, much like the Sarabaites of mediæval Europe, I
have treated, and of their institutions and its founder, Shaykh
Sharif Bu Ali Kalandar (ob. A.H. 724=1323-24), at some length in my
"History of Sindh," chapt. viii. See also the Dabistan (i, 136) where
the good Kalandar exclaims:—
If the thorn break in my body, how trifling the pain!
But how sorely I feel for the poor broken thorn!
D'Herbelot is right when he says that the Kalandar is not generally
approved by Moslems: he labours to win free from every form and
observance and he approaches the Malámati who conceals all his good
deeds and boasts of his evil doings—our "Devil's hypocrite."
Footnote 168:
The "Kalandar" disfigures himself in this manner to show
"mortification."
Footnote 169:
Arab. "Gharíb:" the porter is offended because the word implies "poor
devil;" esp. one out of his own country.
Footnote 170:
A religious mendicant generally.
Footnote 171:
Very scandalous to Moslem "respectability": Mohammed said the house
was accursed when the voices of women could be heard out of doors.
Moreover the neighbours have a right to interfere and abate the
scandal.
Footnote 172:
I need hardly say that these are both historical personages; they
will often be mentioned, and Ja'afar will be noticed in the terminal
Essay.
Footnote 173:
Arab. "Sama'an wa tá'atan;" a popular phrase of assent generally
translated "to hear is to obey;" but this formula may be and must be
greatly varied. In places it means "Hearing (the word of Allah) and
obeying" (His prophet, viceregent, etc.)
Footnote 174:
Arab. "Sawáb"=reward in Heaven. This word for which we have no
equivalent has been naturalised in all tongues (_e.g._ Hindostani)
spoken by Moslems.
Footnote 175:
Wine-drinking, at all times forbidden to Moslems, vitiates the
Pilgrimage-rite: the Pilgrim is vowed to a strict observance of the
ceremonial law and many men date their "reformation" from the "Hajj."
Pilgrimage, iii., 126.
Footnote 176:
Here some change has been necessary; as the original text confuses
the three "ladies."
Footnote 177:
In Arab-the plural masc. is used by way of modesty when a girl
addresses her lover; and for the same reason she speaks of herself as
a man.
Footnote 178:
Arab. "Al-Na'im;" in full "Jannat al-Na'im"=the Garden of Delights,
_i.e._ the fifth Heaven made of white silver. The generic name of
Heaven (the place of reward) is "Jannat," lit. a garden; "Firdaus"
being evidently derived from the Persian through the Greek
παράδεισος, and meaning a chase, a hunting-park. Writers on this
subject should bear in mind Mandeville's modesty, "Of Paradise I
cannot speak properly, for I was not there."
Footnote 179:
Arab. "Mikra'ah," the dried mid-rib of a date-frond used for many
purposes, especially the bastinado.
Footnote 180:
According to Lane (i., 229) these and the immediately following
verses are from an ode by Ibn Sahl al-Ishbili. They are in the Bul.
Edit. not the Mac. Edit.
Footnote 181:
The original is full of conceits and plays on words which are not
easily rendered in English.
Footnote 182:
Arab. "Tarjumán," same root as Chald. Targum (=a translation), the
old "Truchman," and through the Ital. "tergomano" our "Dragoman;"
here a messenger.
Footnote 183:
Lit. the "person of the eyes," our "babe of the eyes," a favourite
poetical conceit in all tongues; much used by the Elizabethans, but
now neglected as a silly kind of conceit. See Night ccix.
Footnote 184:
Arab. "Sár" (Thár) the revenge-right recognised by law and custom
(Pilgrimage, iii., 69)
Footnote 185:
That is "We all swim in the same boat."
Footnote 186:
Ja'afar ever acts, on such occasions, the part of a wise and sensible
man compelled to join in a foolish frolic. He contrasts strongly with
the Caliph, a headstrong despot who will not be gainsaid, whatever be
the whim of the moment. But Easterns would look upon this as a proof
of his "kingliness."
Footnote 187:
Arab. "Wa'l-Salám" (pronounce Was-Salám); meaning "and here ends the
matter." In our slang we say, "All right, and the child's name is
Antony."
Footnote 188:
This is a favourite jingle; the play being upon "ibrat" (a
needle-graver) and "'ibrat" (an example, a warning).
Footnote 189:
That is "make his bow;" as the English peasant pulls his forelock.
Lane (i., 249) suggests, as an afterthought, that it means:—"Recover
thy senses; in allusion to a person's drawing his hand over his head
after sleep or a fit." But it occurs elsewhere in the sense of "cut
thy stick."
Footnote 190:
This would be a separate building like our family tomb and probably
domed, resembling that mentioned in "The King of the Black Islands."
Europeans usually call it "a little Wali;" or, as they write it,
"Wely;" the contained for the container; the "Santon" for the
"Santon's tomb." I have noticed this curious confusion (which begins
with Robinson, i. 322) in "Unexplored Syria," i. 161.
Footnote 191:
Arab. "Wiswás;"=diabolical temptation or suggestion. The "Wiswásí" is
a man with scruples (scrupulus, a pebble in the shoe), _e.g._ one who
fears that his ablutions were deficient, etc.
Footnote 192:
Arab. "Katf"=pinioning by tying the arms behind the back and
shoulders (Kitf), a dire disgrace to freeborn men.
Footnote 193:
Arab. "Nafs."=Heb. Nephesh (Nafash)=soul, life; as opposed to
"Ruach"=spirit and breath. In these places it is equivalent to "I
said to myself." Another form of the root is "Nafas," breath, with an
idea of inspiration: so "Sáhib Nafas" (=master of breath) is a minor
saint who heals by expiration, a matter familiar to mesmerists
(Pilgrimage, i. 86).
Footnote 194:
Arab. "Kaus al-Banduk;" the "pellet-bow" of modern India; with two
strings joined by a bit of cloth which supports a ball of dry clay or
stone. It is chiefly used for birding.
Footnote 195:
In the East blinding was a common practice, especially in the case of
junior princes not required as heirs. A deep perpendicular incision
was made down each corner of the eyes; the lids were lifted and the
balls removed by cutting the optic nerve and the muscles. The later
Caliphs blinded their victims by passing a red-hot sword blade close
to the orbit or a needle over the eyeball. About the same time in
Europe the operation was performed with a heated metal basin—the
well-known _bacinare_ (used by Ariosto), as happened to Pier delle
Vigne (Petrus de Vineâ), the "godfather of modern Italian."
Footnote 196:
Arab. "Khinzír" (by Europeans pronounced "Hanzír"), prop. a
wild-boar; but popularly used like our "you pig!"
Footnote 197:
Striking with the shoe, the pipe-stick and similar articles is highly
insulting, because they are not made, like whips and scourges, for
such purpose. Here the East and the West differ diametrically.
"Wounds which are given by instruments which are in one's hands by
chance do not disgrace a man," says Cervantes (D. Q. i., chapt. 15),
and goes on to prove that if a Zapatero (cobbler) cudgel another with
his form or last, the latter must not consider himself cudgelled. The
reverse in the East where a blow of a pipe-stick cost Mahommed Ali
Pasna's son his life: Ishmail Pasha was burned to death by Malik
Nimr, chief of Shendy (Pilgrimage, i., 203). Moreover, the actual
wound is less considered in Moslem law than the instrument which
caused it: so sticks and stones are venial weapons, whilst sword and
dagger, gun and pistol are felonious. See _ibid._ (i., 336) for a
note upon the weapons with which nations are policed.
Footnote 198:
Incest is now abominable everywhere except amongst the overcrowded
poor of great and civilised cities. Yet such unions were common and
lawful amongst ancient and highly cultivated peoples, as the
Egyptians (Isis and Osiris), Assyrians and ancient Persians.
Physiologically they are injurious only when the parents have
constitutional defects: if both are sound, the issue, as amongst the
so-called "lower animals," is viable and healthy.
Footnote 199:
Dwellers in the Northern Temperates can hardly imagine what a
dust-storm is in sun-parched tropical lands. In Sind we were often
obliged to use candles at midday, while above the dust was a sun that
would roast an egg.
Footnote 200:
Arab. "'Urban," now always used of the wild people, whom the French
have taught us to call _les Bedouins_; "Badw" being a waste or
desert; and Badawi (fem. Badawíyah, plur. Badáwi and Bidwán), a man
of the waste. Europeans have also learnt to miscall the Egyptians
"Arabs": the difference is as great as between an Englishman and a
Spaniard. Arabs proper divide their race into sundry successive
families. "The Arab al-Arabá" (or al-Aribah, or al-Urubíyat) are the
autochthones, prehistoric, proto-historic and extinct tribes; for
instance, a few of the Adites who being at Meccah escaped the
destruction of their wicked nation, but mingled with other classes.
The "Arab al-Muta'arribah," (Arabised Arabs) are the first advenæ
represented by such noble strains as the Koraysh (Koreish), some
still surviving. The "Arab al-Musta'aribah," (insititious,
naturalised or instituted Arabs, men who claim to be Arabs) are Arabs
like the Sinaites, the Egyptians and the Maroccans descended by
intermarriage with other races. Hence our "Mosarabians" and the
"Marrabais" of Rabelais (not, "a word compounded of Maurus and
Arabs"). Some genealogists, however, make the Muta'arribah
descendants of Kahtan (possible the Joktan of Genesis x., a
comparatively modern document, B.C. 700?); and the Musta'aribah those
descended from Adnán the origin of Arab genealogy. And, lastly, are
the "Arab al-Musta'ajimah," barbarised Arabs, like the present
population of Meccah and Al-Medinah. Besides these there are other
tribes whose origin is still unknown; such as the Mahrah tribes of
Hazramaut, the "Akhdám" (=serviles) of Oman (Maskat); and the "Ebná"
of Al-Yaman: Ibn Ishak supposes the latter to be descended from the
Persian soldiers of Anushirwan who expelled the Abyssinian invader
from Southern Arabia. (Pilgrimage, iii., 31, etc.).
Footnote 201:
Arab. "Amír al-Muuminín." The title was assumed by the Caliph Omar to
obviate the inconvenience of calling himself "Khalífah" (successor)
of the Khalífah of the Apostle of Allah (_i.e._ Abu Bakr); which
after a few generations would become impossible. It means "Emir
(chief or prince) of the Muumins;" men who hold to the (true Moslem)
Faith, the "Imán" (theory, fundamental articles) as opposed to the
"Dín," ordinance or practice of the religion. It once became a
Wazirial title conferred by Sultan Malikshah (King King-king) on his
Nizám al-Mulk. (Richardson's Dissert. lviii).
Footnote 202:
This may also mean "according to the seven editions of the Koran,"
the old revisions and so forth (Sale, Sect. iii. and D'Herbelot
"Alcoran.") The schools of the "Mukri," who teach the right
pronunciation wherein a mistake might be sinful, are seven, Hamzah,
Ibn Katír, Ya'akúb, Ibn Amir, Kisái, Asim and Hafs, the latter being
the favourite with the Hanafis and the only one now generally known
in Al-Islam.
Footnote 203:
Arab. "Sadd"=wall, dyke, etc. the "bund" or "band" of Anglo-India.
Hence the "Sadd" on the Nile, the banks of grass and floating islands
which "wall" the stream. There are few sights more appalling than a
sandstorm in the desert, the "Zauba'ah" as the Arabs call it. Devils,
or pillars of sand, vertical and inclined, measuring a thousand feet
high, rush over the plain lashing the sand at their base like a sea
surging under a furious whirlwind; shearing the grass clean away from
the roots, tearing up trees, which are whirled like leaves and sticks
in air, and sweeping away tents and houses as if they were bits of
paper. At last the columns join at the top and form, perhaps three
thousand feet above the earth, a gigantic cloud of yellow sand which
obliterates not only the horizon but even the midday sun. These
sand-spouts are the terror of travellers. In Sind and the Punjab we
have the dust-storm which for darkness, I have said, beats the
blackest London fog.
Footnote 204:
Arab. Sár=the vendetta, before mentioned, as dreaded in Arabia as in
Corsica.
Footnote 205:
Arab. "Ghútah," usually a place where irrigation is abundant. It
especially applies (in books) to the Damascus-plain because "it
abounds with water and fruit trees." Bochart (Geog. Sacra, p. 90)
derives עוטה (utah) from עוץ Uz, son of Arab, who (he says) founded
Damascus. The Ghutah is one of the four earthly paradises, the others
being Basrah (Bassorah), Shiraz and Samarcand. Its peculiarity is the
likeness to a seaport; the Desert which rolls up almost to its doors
being the sea and its ships being the camels. The first Arab to whom
we owe this admirable term for the "Companion of Job" is "Tarafah"
one of the poets of the Suspended Poems: he likens (v.v. 3, 4) the
camels which bore away his beloved to ships sailing from Aduli. But
"ships of the desert" is doubtless a term of the highest antiquity.
Footnote 206:
The exigencies of the "Saj'a," or rhymed prose, disjoint this and
many similar passages.
Footnote 207:
The "Ebony" Islands; Scott's "Isle of Ebene," i., 217.
Footnote 208:
"Jarjarís" in the Bul. Edit.
Footnote 209:
Arab. "Takbís." Many Easterns can hardly sleep without this kneading
of the muscles, this "rubbing" whose hygienic properties England is
now learning.
Footnote 210:
The converse of the breast being broadened, the drooping,
"draggle-tail" gait compared with the head held high and the chest
inflated.
Footnote 211:
This penalty is mentioned in the Koran (chapt. v.) as fit for those
who fight against Allah and his Apostle; but commentators are not
agreed if the sinners are first to be put to death or to hang on the
cross till they die. Pharaoh (chapt xx.) threatens to crucify his
magicians on palm-trees, and is held to be the first crucifier.
Footnote 212:
Arab. "'Ajami"=foreigner, esp. a Persian: the latter in The Nights is
mostly a villain. I must here remark that the contemptible condition
of Persians in Al-Hijáz (which I noted in 1852, Pilgrimage i. 327)
has completely changed. They are no longer, "The slippers of Ali and
hounds of Omar:" they have learned the force of union and now,
instead of being bullied, they bully.
Footnote 213:
The Calc. Edit. turns them into Tailors (Khayyátín) and Torrens does
not see the misprint.
Footnote 214:
_i.e._ Axe and sandals.
Footnote 215:
Lit. "Strike his neck."
Footnote 216:
A phrase which will frequently recur; meaning the situation suggested
such words as these.
Footnote 217:
The smiter with the evil eye is called "A'in" and the person smitten
"Ma'ín" or "Ma'ún."
Footnote 218:
Arab. "Sákiyah," the well-known Persian wheel with pots and buckets
attached to the tire. It is of many kinds, the boxed, etc., etc.; and
it is possibly alluded to in the "pitcher broken at the fountain"
(Ecclesiastes xii. 6) an accident often occurring to the modern
"Noria." Travellers mostly abuse its "dismal creaking" and "mournful
monotony": I have defended the music of the water-wheel in Pilgrimage
ii. 198.
Footnote 219:
Arab. "Zikr" lit. remembering, mentioning (_i.e._ the names of
Allah), here refers to the meetings of religious for devotional
exercises; the "Zikkírs," as they are called, mostly standing or
sitting in a circle while they ejaculate the Holy Name. These
"rogations" are much affected by Darwayshes, or begging friars, whom
Europe politely divides into "dancing" and "howling"; and, on one
occasion, greatly to the scandal of certain Engländerinns to whom I
was showing the Ezbekiyah I joined the ring of "howlers." Lane (Mod.
Egypt, see index) is profuse upon the subject of "Zikrs" and Zikkírs.
It must not be supposed that they are uneducated men: the better
class, however, prefers more privacy.
Footnote 220:
As they thought he had been there for prayer or penance.
Footnote 221:
Arab. "Ziyárat," a visit to a pious person or place.
Footnote 222:
This is a paternal salute in the East where they are particular about
the part kissed. A witty and not unusually gross Persian book, called
the "Al-Námah" because all questions begin with "Al" (the Arab
article) contains one "Al-Wajib al-busídan?" (what best deserves
bussing?) and the answer is "Kus-i-nau-pashm," (a bobadilla with a
young bush).
Footnote 223:
A weight of 71-72 English grains in gold; here equivalent to the
dinar.
Footnote 224:
Compare the tale of The Three Crows in Gammer Grethel, Evening ix.
Footnote 225:
The comparison is peculiarly apposite; the earth seen from above
appears hollow with a raised rim.
Footnote 226:
A hundred years old.
Footnote 227:
"Bahr" in Arab. means sea, river, piece of water; hence the adjective
is needed.
Footnote 228:
The Captain or Master of the ship (not the owner). In Al Yaman the
word also means a "barber," in virtue of the root, Raas, a head.
Footnote 229:
The text has "in the character Ruká'í," or Riká'í, the
correspondence-hand.
Footnote 230:
A curved character supposed to be like the basil-leaf (rayhán).
Richardson calls it "Rohani."
Footnote 231:
I need hardly say that Easterns use a reed, a Calamus (Kalam applied
only to the cut reed) for our quills and steel pens.
Footnote 232:
Famous for being inscribed on the Kiswah (cover) of Mohammed's tomb;
a large and more formal hand still used for engrossing and for mural
inscriptions. Only seventy-two varieties of it are known (Pilgrimage,
ii., 82).
Footnote 233:
The copying and transcribing hand which is either Arabi or Ajami. A
great discovery has lately been made which upsets all our old ideas
of Cufic, etc. Mr. Löytved of Bayrut has found, amongst the Hauranic
inscriptions, one in pure Naskhi, dating A.D. 568, or fifty years
before the Hijrah; and it is accepted as authentic by my learned
friend M. Ch. Clermont-Ganneau (p. 193, Pal. Explor. Fund; July
1884). In D'Herbelot and Sale's day the Koran was supposed to have
been written in rude characters, like those subsequently called
"Cufic," invented shortly before Mohammed's birth by Murámir ibn
Murrah of Anbar in Irák, introduced into Meccah by Bashar the
Kindian, and perfected by Ibn Muklah (Al-Wazir, ob. A.H. 328=940). We
must now change all that. See Catalogue of Oriental Caligraphs, etc.,
by G. P. Badger, London, Whiteley, 1885.
Footnote 234:
Capital and uncial letters; the hand in which the Ka'abah veil is
inscribed (Pilgrimage iii. 299, 300).
Footnote 235:
A "Court hand" says Mr. Payne (i. 112): I know nothing of it. Other
hands are: the Ta'alík; hanging or oblique, used for finer MSS. and
having, according to Richardson, "the same analogy to the Naskhi as
our Italic has to the Roman." The Nasta' lík (not Naskh-Ta'alík) much
used in India, is, as the name suggests, a mixture of the Naskhi
(writing of transactions) and the Ta'alík. The Shikastah (broken
hand) everywhere represents our running hand and becomes a hard task
to the reader. The Kirmá is another cursive character, mostly
confined to the receipts and disbursements of the Turkish treasury.
The Diváni, or Court (of Justice) is the official hand, bold and
round, a business character, the lines often rising with a sweep or
curve towards the (left) end. The Jáli or polished has a variety, the
Jali-Ta'alik: the Sulsi (known in many books) is adopted for titles
of volumes, royal edicts, diplomas and so forth; "answering much the
same purpose as capitals with us, or the flourished letters in
illuminated manuscripts" (Richardson). The Tughrái is that of the
Tughrá, the Prince's cypher or flourishing signature in ceremonial
writings, and containing some such sentence as: Let this be executed.
There are others _e.g._ Yákuti and Sirenkil known only by name.
Finally the Maghribi (Moorish) hand differs in form and diacritical
points from the characters used further east almost as much as German
running hand does from English. It is curious that Richardson omits
the Jali (intricate and convoluted) and the divisions of the Sulusí,
Sulsi or Sulus (Thuluth) character, the Sulus al-Khafíf, etc.
Footnote 236:
Arab. "Baghlah"; the male (Baghl) is used only for loads. This is
everywhere the rule: nothing is more unmanageable than a restive
"Macho"; and he knows that he can always get you off his back when so
minded. From "Baghlah" is derived the name of the native craft
Anglo-Indicè a "Buggalow."
Footnote 237:
In Heb. "Ben-Adam" is any man opp. to "Beni ish" (Psalm iv. 3)=_filii
viri_, not _homines_.
Footnote 238:
This posture is terribly trying to European legs; and few white men
(unless brought up to it) can squat for any time on their heels. The
"tailor-fashion," with crossed legs, is held to be free and easy.
Footnote 239:
Arab. "Katá"=Pterocles Alchata, the well-known sand-grouse of the
desert. It is very poor white flesh.
Footnote 240:
Arab. "Khubz" which I do not translate "cake" or "bread," as that
would suggest the idea of our loaf. The staff of life in the East is
a thin flat circle of dough baked in the oven or on the griddle, and
corresponding with the Scotch "scone," the Spanish "tortilla" and the
Australian "flap-jack."
Footnote 241:
Arab. "Harísah," a favourite dish of wheat (or rice) boiled and
reduced to a paste with shredded meat, spices and condiments. The
"bangles" is a pretty girl eating with him.
Footnote 242: