universal confusion between things objective as a dead body and states
of things as death. We begin by giving a name, for facility of
intercourse, to phases, phenomena and conditions of matter; and,
having created the word we proceed to supply it with a fanciful
entity, _e.g._ “The Mind (a useful term to express the aggregate
action of the brain, nervous system etc.) of man is immortal.” The
next step is personification as Time with his forelock, Death with his
skull and Night (the absence of light) with her starry mantle. For
poetry this abuse of language is a sine qua non, but it is deadly foe
to all true philosophy.
Footnote 121:
Christians would naturally understand this “One Word” to be the λόγος
of the Platonists, adopted by St. John (comparatively a late writer)
and by the Alexandrian school, Jewish (as Philo Judæus) and Christian.
But here the tale-teller alludes to the Divine Word “Kun” (be!)
whereby the worlds came into existence.
Footnote 122:
Arab. “Ya bunayyí” a dim. form lit. “O my little son!” an affectionate
address frequent in Russian, whose “little father” (under “Bog”) is
his Czar.
Footnote 123:
Thus in two texts. Mr. Payne has, “Verily God the Most High created
man after His own image, and likened him to Himself, all of Him truth,
without falsehood; then He gave him dominion over himself and ordered
him and forbade him, and it was man who transgressed His commandment
and erred in his obedience and brought falsehood upon himself of his
own will.” Here he borrows from the Bresl. Edit. viii. 84 (five first
lines). But the doctrine is rather Jewish and Christian than Moslem:
Al-Mas’údi (ii. 389) introduces a Copt in the presence of Ibn Tutún
saying, “Prince, these people (designing a Jew) pretend that Allah
Almighty created Adam (_i.e._ mankind) after His own image” (’Alà
Súrati-h).
Footnote 124:
Arab. “Istitá’ah” = ableness _e.g._ “Al-hajj ’inda ’l-Istitá’ah” =
Pilgrimage when a man is able thereto (by easy circumstances).
Footnote 125:
Arab. “Al-Kasab,” which phrenologists would translate
“acquisitiveness.” The author is here attempting to reconcile man’s
moral responsibility, that is Freewill, with Fate by which all human
actions are directed and controlled. I cannot see that he fails to
“apprehend the knotty point of doctrine involved”; but I find his
inability to make two contraries agree as pronounced as that of all
others, Moslems and Christians, that preceded him in the same path.
Footnote 126:
The order should be, “men, angels and Jinn,” for which see vol. i. p.
10. But “angels” here takes precedence because Iblis was one of them.
Footnote 127:
Arab. “Wartah” = precipice, quagmire, quicksand and hence sundry
secondary and metaphorical significations, under which, as in the
“Samitic” (Arabic) tongues generally, the prosaical and material sense
of the word is clearly evident. I noted this in Pilgrimage iii. 66,
and was soundly abused for so saying by a host of Sciolists.
Footnote 128:
_i.e._ Allowing the Devil to go about the world and seduce mankind
until Doomsday when “auld Sootie’s” occupation will be gone. Surely
“Providence” might have managed better.
Footnote 129:
_i.e._ to those who deserve His love.
Footnote 130:
Here “Istitá’ah” would mean capability of action, _i.e._ freewill,
which is a mere word like “free trade.”
Footnote 131:
Arab. “Bi al-taubah” which may also mean “for (on account of his)
penitence.” The reader will note how the learned Shimas “dodges” the
real question. He is asked why the “Omnipotent, Omniscient did not
prevent (_i.e._ why He created) sin?” He answers that He kindly
permitted (_i.e._ created and sanctioned) it that man might repent.
Proh pudor! If any one thus reasoned of mundane matters he would be
looked upon as the merest fool.
Footnote 132:
Arab. “Mahall al-Zauk,” lit. = seat of taste.
Footnote 133:
Mr. Payne translates “it” _i.e._ the Truth; but the formula following
the word shows that Allah is meant.
Footnote 134:
Moslems, who do their best to countermine the ascetic idea inherent in
Christianity, are not ashamed of the sensual appetite; but rather the
reverse. I have heard in Persia of a Religious, highly esteemed for
learning and saintly life who, when lodged by a disciple at Shiraz,
came out of his sleeping room and aroused his host with the words
“Shahwat dáram!” equivalent to our “I want a woman.” He was at once
married to one of the slave-girls and able to gratify the demands of
the flesh.
Footnote 135:
Koran iv. 81, “Whatever good betideth thee is from God, and whatever
betideth thee of evil is from thyself”: rank manichæism is pronounced
as any in Christendom.
Footnote 136:
Arab. “Zukhruf” which Mr. Payne picturesquely renders “painted gawds.”
Footnote 137:
It is the innate craving in the “Aryan” (Iranian, not the Turanian)
mind, this longing to know what follows Death, or if nothing follow
it, which accounts for the marvellous diffusion of the so-called
Spiritualism which is only Swedenborgianism systematised and carried
out into action, amongst nervous and impressionable races like the
Anglo-American. In England it is the reverse; the obtuse sensitiveness
of a people bred on beef and beer has made the “Religion of the
Nineteenth Century” a manner of harmless magic, whose miracles are
table-turning and ghost seeing whilst the prodigious rascality of its
prophets (the so-called Mediums) has brought it into universal
disrepute. It has been said that Catholicism must be true to co-exist
with the priest and it is the same with Spiritualism proper, by which
I understand the belief in a life beyond the grave, a mere
continuation of this life; it flourishes (despite the Medium) chiefly
because it has laid before man the only possible and intelligible idea
of a future state.
Footnote 138:
See vol. vi. p. 7. The only lie which degrades a man in his own
estimation and in that of others, is that told for fear of telling the
truth. _Au reste_, human society and civilised intercourse are built
upon a system of conventional lying; and many droll stories illustrate
the consequences of disregarding the dictum, _la vérité n’est pas
toujours bonne à dire_.
Footnote 139:
Arab. “Walí’ahd” which may mean heir-presumptive (whose heirship is
contingent) or heir-apparent.
Footnote 140:
Arab. “Yá abati” = O my papa (which here would sound absurd).
Footnote 141:
All the texts give a decalogue; but Mr. Payne has reduced it to a
heptalogue.
Footnote 142:
The Arabs who had a variety of anæsthetics never seem to have studied
the subject of “euthanasia.” They preferred seeing a man expire in
horrible agonies to relieving him by means of soporifics and other
drugs: so I have heard Christians exult in saying that the sufferer
“kept his senses to the last.” Of course superstition is at the bottom
of this barbarity; the same which a generation ago made the silly
accoucheur refuse to give ether because of the divine (?) saying “In
sorrow shalt thou bring forth children.” (Gen. iii. 16). In the
Bosnia-Herzegovina campaign many of the Austrian officers carried with
them doses of poison to be used in case of being taken prisoners by
the ferocious savages against whom they were fighting. As many
anecdotes about “Easing off the poor dear” testify, the
Euthanasia-system is by no means unknown to the lower classes in
England. I shall have more to say on this subject.
Footnote 143:
See vol. iii. p. 253 for the consequences of royal seclusion of which
Europe in the present day can contribute examples. The lesson which it
teaches simply is that the world can get on very well without
royalties.
Footnote 144:
The grim Arab humour in the text is the sudden change for the worse of
the good young man. Easterns do not believe in the Western saw, “Nemo
repente fuit turpissimus.” The spirited conduct of the subjects finds
many parallels in European history, especially in Portugal: see my
Life of Camoens p. 234.
Footnote 145:
Arab. “Muhárabah” lit. = doing battle; but is sometimes used in the
sense of gainsaying or disobeying.
Footnote 146:
Arab. “Duwámah” (from “duwám” = vertigo, giddiness) also applied to a
boy’s whip-top.
Footnote 147:
Arab. “Khayr o (wa) Áfiyah,” a popular phrase much used in
salutations, &c.
Footnote 148:
Another instance, and true to life, of the democracy of despotism in
which the express and combined will of the people is the only absolute
law. Hence Russian autocracy is forced into repeated wars for the
possession of Constantinople which, in the present condition of the
Empire, would be an unmitigated evil to her and would be only too glad
to see a Principality of Byzantium placed under the united protection
of the European Powers. I have treated of this in my paper on the
“Partition of Turkey,” which first appeared, headed the “Future of
Turkey,” in the _Daily Telegraph_, of March 7, 1880, and subsequently
by its own name in the _Manchester Examiner_, January 3, 1881. The
main reason why the project is not carried out appears to be that the
“politicals” would thereby find their occupation gone and they
naturally object to losing so fine a field of action. So Turkey still
plays the rôle of the pretty young lady being courted by a rabble of
valets.
Footnote 149:
Good Moslems are bound to abate such scandals; and in a case of the
kind even neighbours are expected to complain before the Chief of
Police. This practice forms “Vigilance Committees” all over the
Mahommedan East: and we may take a leaf out of their books if
dynamite-outrages continue.
Footnote 150:
But a Hadis, attributed to Mohammed, says, “The Prince of a people is
their servant.” See Matth. xx. 26–27.
Footnote 151:
Easterns are well aware of the value of this drug which has become the
base of so many of our modern medicines.
Footnote 152:
The strangest poison is mentioned by Sonnini who, as a rule, is a
trustworthy writer. Noticing the malignity of Egyptian women he
declares (p. 628, English trans.) that they prepare a draught
containing a quant. suff. of menstruous discharge at certain phases of
the moon, which produces symptoms of scurvy; the gums decay, the
teeth, beard and hair fall off, the body dries, the limbs lose
strength and death follows within a year. He also asserts that no
counterpoison is known and if this be true he confers a boon upon the
Locustæ and Brinvilliers of modern Europe. In Morocco “Ta’am” is the
vulgar name for a mixture of dead men’s bones, eyes, hair and similar
ingredients made by old wives and supposed to cause a wasting disease
for which the pharmacopœia has no cure. Dogs are killed by needles
cunningly inserted into meat-balls; and this process is known
throughout the Moslem world.
Footnote 153:
Which contained the Palace.
Footnote 154:
Arab. “Lá baas.” See Night vol. iv. 164.
Footnote 155:
For Ta’lab (Sa’lab) see supra, p. 48. In Morocco it is undoubtedly the
red or common fox which, however, is not gregarious as in the text.
Footnote 156:
See vol. iii. 146.
Footnote 157:
Arab. “Muunah” which in Morocco applies to the provisions furnished
gratis by the unfortunate village-people to travellers who have a
passport from the Sultan: its root is Maun = supplying necessaries.
“The name is supposed to have its origin in that of _Manna_, the
miraculous provision bestowed by the bounty of Heaven on the
Israelites while wandering in the deserts of Arabia.” Such is the
marvellous information we find in p. 40, “Morocco and the Moors” by
John Drummond Hay (Murray, 1861).
Footnote 158:
_i.e._ He resolved to do them justice and win a reward from Heaven.
Footnote 159:
Arab. “Luss” = thief, robber, rogue, rascal, the Persian “Luti” of
popular usage. This is one of the many “Simpleton stories” in which
Eastern folk-lore abounds. I hear that Mr. Clouston is preparing a
collection, and look forward to it with interest.
Footnote 160:
Arab. “Tibn”; for which see vol. i. 16.
Footnote 161:
A fanciful origin of “Díván” (here an audience-chamber) which may mean
demons (plural of Dív) is attributed to a King of Persia. He gave a
series of difficult documents and accounts to his scribes and
surprised at the quickness and cleverness with which they were ordered
exclaimed, “These men be Divs!” Hence a host of secondary meanings as
a book of Odes with distichs rhymed in alphabetical order and so
forth.
Footnote 162:
In both cases the word “Jabábirah” is used, the plur. of Jabbár, the
potent, especially applied to the Kings of the Canaanites and giants
like the mythical Og of Bashan. So the Heb. Jabbúrah is a title of the
Queens of Judah.
Footnote 163:
Arab. “Kitáb al-Kazá” = the Book of Judgments, such as the Kazi would
use when deciding cases in dispute, by legal precedents and the Rasm
or custom of the country.
Footnote 164:
_i.e._ sit before the King as referee, etc.
Footnote 165:
This massacre of refractory chiefs is one of the _grand moyens_ of
Eastern state-craft, and it is almost always successful because
circumstances require it; popular opinion approves of it and it is
planned and carried out with discretion and secrecy. The two familiar
instances in our century are the massacre of the Mamelukes by Mohammed
Ali Pasha the Great and of the turbulent chiefs of the Omani Arabs by
our ancient ally Sayyid Sa’íd, miscalled the “Imám of Maskat.”
Footnote 166:
The metaphor (Sabaka) is from horse-racing, the Arabs being, I have
said, a horsey people.
Footnote 167:
Arab. “Kurdús” = A body of horse.
Footnote 168:
Arab. “Ibn ’Irs.” See vol. iii. 147.
Footnote 169:
Arab. “Al-Hind-al-Aksá.” The Sanskrit Sindhu (lands on the Indus
River) became in Zend “Hendu” and hence in Arabic Sind and Hind, which
latter I wish we had preserved instead of the classical “India” or the
poetical “Ind.”
Footnote 170:
_i.e._ by geomancy: see vol. iii. 269 for a note on Al-Raml. The
passage is not in the Mac. Edit.
Footnote 171:
This address gave the boy Wazirial rank. In many parts of Europe,
England included, if the Sovereign address a subject with a title not
belonging to him, it is a disputed point if the latter can or cannot
claim it.
Footnote 172:
Koran, chapter of Joseph xii. 28, spoken by Potiphar after Joseph’s
innocence had been proved by a witness in Potiphar’s house or
according to the Talmud (Sepher Hádjascher) by an infant in the
cradle. The texts should have printed this as a quotation (with
vowel-points).
Footnote 173:
Arab. “Al-’Azíz,” alluding to Joseph the Patriarch entitled in Egypt
“Azíz al-Misr” = Magnifico of Misraim (Koran xii. 54). It is generally
believed that Ismail Pasha, whose unwise deposition has caused the
English Government such a host of troubles and load of obloquy,
aspired to be named “’Azíz” by the Porte; but was compelled to be
satisfied with Khadív (vulg. written Khedive, and pronounced even
“Kédivé”), a Persian title, which simply means prince or Rajah, as
Khadív-i-Hind.
Footnote 174:
_i.e._ The Throne room.
Footnote 175:
For the “Dawát” or wooden inkcase containing reeds see vol. v. 239 and
viii. 178. I may remark that its origin is the Egyptian “Pes,” of
which there is a specimen in the British Museum inscribed, “Amásis the
good god and Lord of the two Lands.”
Footnote 176:
_i.e._ I am governed by the fear of Allah in my dealings to thee and
thy subjects.
Footnote 177:
Arabic has no single word for million although the Moroccans have
adopted “Milyún” from the Spaniards (see p. 100 of the Rudimentos del
Árabe vulgar que se habla en el imperio de Marruccos por El P. Fr.
Josè de Lerchundi, Madrid 1872). This lack of the higher numerals, the
reverse of the Hindu languages, makes Arabic “arithmology” very
primitive and almost as cumbrous as the Chinese.
Footnote 178:
_i.e._ I am thy slave to slay or to pardon.
Footnote 179:
Arab. “Matta’aka ’llah” = Allah permit thee to enjoy, from the root
mata’, whence cometh the Maroccan Matá’i = my, mine, which answers to
Bitá’i in Egypt.
Footnote 180:
Arab. “Khitáb” = the exordium of a letter preceding its
business-matter and in which the writer displays all his art. It ends
with “Ammá ba’d,” lit. = but after, equivalent to our “To proceed.”
This “Khitáb” is mostly skipped over by modern statesmen who will say,
“Now after the nonsense let us come to the sense”; but their
secretaries carefully weigh every word of it, and strongly resent all
shortcomings.
Footnote 181:
Strongly suggesting that the King had forgotten how to read and write.
So not a few of the Amírs of Sind were analphabetic and seemed rather
proud of it: “a Baloch cannot write, but he always carries a
signet-ring.” I heard of an old English lady of the past generation in
Northern Africa who openly declared “A Warrington shall never learn to
read or write.”
Footnote 182:
Arab. “Ámin,” of which the Heb. form is Amen from the root Amn =
stability, constancy. In both tongues it is a particle of affirmation
or consent = it is true! So be it! The Hebrew has also “Amanah” =
verily, truly.
Footnote 183:
To us this seems a case of “hard lines” for the unhappy women; but
Easterns then believed and still believe in the divinity which doth
hedge in a King, in his reigning by the “grace of God,” and in his
being the Viceregent of Allah upon earth; briefly in the old faith of
loyalty which great and successful republics are fast making obsolete
in the West and nowhere faster than in England.
ABU KIR THE DYER AND ABU SIR THE BARBER.
There dwelt once, in Alexandria city, two men, of whom one was a dyer,
by name Abú Kír, and the other a barber Abú Sír;[184] and they were
neighbours in the market-street, where their shops stood side by side.
The dyer was a swindler and a liar, an exceeding wicked wight, as if
indeed his head-temples were hewn out of a boulder rock or fashioned of
the threshold of a Jewish synagogue, nor was he ashamed of any shameful
work he wrought amongst the folk. It was his wont, when any brought him
cloth for staining, first to require of him payment under pretence of
buying dye-stuffs therewith. So the customer would give him the wage in
advance and wend his ways, and the dyer would spend all he received on
meat and drink; after which he would sell the cloth itself as soon as
ever its owner turned his back and waste its worth in eating and
drinking and what not else, for he ate not but of the daintiest and most
delicate viands nor drank but of the best of that which doth away the
wit of man. And when the owner of the cloth came to him, he would say to
him, “Return to me to-morrow before sunrise and thou shalt find thy
stuff dyed.” So the customer would go away, saying to himself, “One day
is near another day,” and return next day at the appointed time, when
the dyer would say to him, “Come to-morrow; yesterday I was not at work,
for I had with me guests and was occupied with doing what their wants
required till they went: but to-morrow before sunrise come and take thy
cloth dyed.” So he would fare forth and return on the third day, when
Abu Kir would say to him, “Indeed yesterday I was excusable, for my wife
was brought to bed in the night and all day I was busy with manifold
matters; but to-morrow, without fail, come and take thy cloth dyed.”
When the man came again at the appointed time, he would put him off with
some other pretence, it mattered little what, and would swear to
him;——Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Thirty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that every time the
owner of an article came to the dyer he would put him off with any
pretext[185] and would swear to him; nor would he cease to promise and
swear to him, as often as he came, till the customer lost patience and
said, “How often wilt thou say to me, ‘To-morrow?’ Give me my stuff: I
will not have it dyed.” Whereupon the dyer would make answer, “By Allah,
O my brother, I am abashed at thee; but I must tell the truth and may
Allah harm all who harm folk in their goods!” The other would exclaim,
“Tell me what hath happened;” and Abu Kir would reply, “As for thy stuff
I dyed that same on matchless wise and hung it on the drying rope but
’twas stolen and I know not who stole it.” If the owner of the stuff
were of the kindly he would say, “Allah will compensate me;” and if he
were of the ill-conditioned, he would haunt him with exposure and
insult, but would get nothing of him, though he complained of him to the
judge. He ceased not doing thus till his report was noised abroad among
the folk and each used to warn other against Abu Kir who became a byword
amongst them. So they all held aloof from him and none would be
entrapped by him save those who were ignorant of his character; but, for
all this, he failed not daily to suffer insult and exposure from Allah’s
creatures. By reason of this his trade became slack and he used to go to
the shop of his neighbour the barber Abu Sír and sit there, facing the
dyery and with his eyes on the door. Whenever he espied any one who knew
him not standing at the dyery-door, with a piece of stuff in his hand,
he would leave the barber’s booth and go up to him saying, “What seekest
thou, O thou?”; and the man would reply, “Take and dye me this thing.”
So the dyer would ask, “What colour wilt thou have it?” For, with all
his knavish tricks his hand was in all manner of dyes; but he was never
true to any one; wherefore poverty had gotten the better of him. Then he
would take the stuff and say, “Give me my wage in advance and come
to-morrow and take the stuff.” So the stranger would advance him the
money and wend his way; whereupon Abu Kir would carry the cloth to the
market-street and sell it and with its price buy meat and vegetables and
tobacco[186] and fruit and what not else he needed; but, whenever he saw
any one who had given him stuff to dye standing at the door of his shop,
he would not come forth to him or even show himself to him. On this wise
he abode years and years, till it fortuned one day that he received
cloth to dye from a man of wrath and sold it and spent the proceeds. The
owner came to him every day, but found him not in his shop; for,
whenever he espied any one who had claim against him, he would flee from
him into the shop of the barber Abu Sir. At last, that angry man finding
that he was not to be seen and growing weary of such work, repaired to
the Kazi and bringing one of his serjeants to the shop, nailed up the
door, in presence of a number of Moslems, and sealed it, for that he saw
therein naught save some broken pans of earthenware to stand him instead
of his stuff; after which the serjeant took the key, saying to the
neighbours, “Tell him to bring back this man’s cloth then come to
me[187] and take his shop key;” and went his way, he and the man. Then
said Abu Sir to Abu Kir, “What ill business is this?[188] Whoever
bringeth thee aught thou losest it for him. What hath become of this
angry man’s stuff?” Answered the dyer, “O my neighbour, ’twas stolen
from me.” “Prodigious!” exclaimed the barber. “Whenever any one giveth
thee aught, a thief stealeth it from thee! Art thou then the
meeting-place of every rogue upon town? But I doubt me thou liest: so
tell me the truth.” Replied Abu Kir, “O my neighbour, none hath stolen
aught from me.” Asked Abu Sir, “What then dost thou with the people’s
property?”; and the dyer answered, “Whenever any one giveth me aught to
dye, I sell it and spend the price.” Quoth Abu Sir, “Is this permitted
thee of Allah?” and quoth Abu Kir, “I do this only out of poverty,
because business is slack with me and I am poor and have nothing.”[189]
And he went on to complain to him of the dulness of his trade and his
lack of means. Abu Sir in like manner lamented the little profit of his
own calling, saying, “I am a master of my craft and have not my equal in
this city; but no one cometh to me to be polled, because I am a pauper;
and I loathe this art and mystery, O my brother.” Abu Kir replied, “And
I also loathe my own craft, by reason of its slackness; but, O my
brother, what call is there for our abiding in this town? Let us depart
from it, I and thou, and solace ourselves in the lands of mankind,
carrying in our hands our crafts which are in demand all the world over;
so shall we breathe the air and rest from this grievous trouble.” And he
ceased not to commend travel to Abu Sir, till the barber became wishful
to set out; so they agreed upon their route,——And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Thirty-second Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Kir
ceased not his praises of wayfaring to Abu Sir till the barber became
wishful to depart; so they agreed upon their route, at which decision
Abu Kir rejoiced and improvised these lines:—