Yours faithfully,
(Signed) J. BELLAMY."
"SIR R. F. BURTON."
To resume this part of the subject.
The following dates show that I was kept waiting six weeks before
being finally favoured with the curtest of refusals:
Application made on September 13th, and sent on.
On Saturday, September 25th, Curators could not form quorum, and
deferred next meeting till Saturday, October 9th.
Saturday, October 9th. Again no quorum; and yet it might easily
have been formed, as three Curators were on or close to the spot.
Saturday, October 23rd. Six Curators met and did nothing.
Saturday, October 30th. Curators met and refused me the loan of
MS.
My letter addressed to the Vice-Chancellor was read, and notice
was given for Saturday (December 3rd, 1886) of a motion, "That
the MS. required by Sir R. F. Burton be lent to him"?and I was
not to be informed of the matter unless the move were successful.
Of course it failed. One of the Curators (who are the delegates
and servants of Convocation) was mortally offended by my letter
to "The Academy," and showed the normal smallness of the official
mind by opposing me simply because I told the truth concerning
the laches of his "learned body."
Meanwhile I had addressed the following note to the Most
Honourable the Chancellor of the University.[FN#422]
23, DORSET STREET, PORTMAN SQUARE,
November 30th, 1886.
"MY LORD,
"I deeply regret that the peculiar proceedings of the Bodleian
Library, Oxford, necessitate a reference to a higher authority
with the view of eliciting some explanation.
"The correspondence which has passed between the Curators of the
Bodleian Library and myself will be found in the accompanying
printed paper.
"Here it may be noticed that the Committee of the Orientalist
Congress, Vienna, is preparing to memorialise H.M.'s Secretary of
State, praying that Parliament will empower the British Museum to
lend out Oriental MSS. under proper guarantees. The same measure
had been proposed at the Leyden Congress of 1883; and thus an
extension, rather than a contraction of the loan-system has found
favour with European savants.[FN#423]
"I believe, my Lord, that a new statute upon the subject of the
Bodleian loans of books and MSS. is confessedly required, and
that it awaits only the initiative of the Chancellor of the
University, without whose approval it cannot be passed.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) RICHARD F. BURTON."
"THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE CHANCELLOR."
My object being only publicity I was not disappointed by the
following reply:?
HATFIELD HOUSE, HATFIELD, HERTS,
December 1st, 1886.
"DEAR SIR RICHARD,
"I beg to acknowledge your letter of the 30th of November with
enclosure.
"I have, however, no power over the Bodleian Library, and,
therefore, I am unable to assist you.
Yours, very truly,
(Signed) SALISBURY."
"SIR RICHARD F. BURTON, K.C.M.G."
On January 29, 1887, there was another "Bodleian Meeting," all
the Curators save one being present and showing evident symptoms
of business. The last application on the list of loans entered on
the Agenda paper ran thus:?
V MS. Bodl. Vols. 550-556 to the British Museum (the 7 vols.
successively) for the use of Mr. F. F. Arbuthnot's Agent.
[The MS. lately refused to Sir R. Burton. Mr. Arbuthnot wishes to
have it copied.]
It was at once removed by the Regius Professor of Divinity (Dr.
Ince) and carried nem. con. that, until the whole question of
lending Bodleian books and MSS. then before Council, be
definitely settled, no applications be entertained; and thus
Professor Van Helton, Bernard Kolbach and Mr. Arbuthnot were
doomed, like myself, to be disappointed.
On January 31, 1887, a hebdomadal Council was called to
deliberate about a new lending statute for submission to
Convocation; and an amendment was printed in the "Oxford
University Gazette." It proposed that the Curators by a vote of
two-thirds of their body, and at least six forming a quorum,
might lend books or MSS. to students, whether graduates or not;
subject, when the loans were of special value, to the consent of
Convocation. Presently the matter was discussed in "The Times"
(January 25th; April 28th; and May 31st), which simply re-echoed
the contention of Mr. Chandler's vigorous pamphlets.[FN#424]
Despite the letters of its correspondent "F. M. M." (May 6th,
1887), a "host in himself," who ought to have added the authority
of his name to the sensible measures which he propounded, the
leading journal took a sentimental view of "Bodley's incomparable
library" and strongly advocated its being relegated to
comparative inutility.
On May 31, 1887, an amendment practically forbidding all loans
came before the House. In vain Professor Freeman declared that a
book is not an idol but a tool which must wear out sooner or
later. To no purpose Bodley's Librarian proved that of 460,000
printed volumes in the collection only 460 had been lent out, and
of these only one had been lost. THE AMENDMENT FORBIDDING THE
PRACTICE OF LENDING WAS CARRIED BY 106 VOTES TO 60.
Personally I am not dissatisfied with this proceeding. It is
retrograde legislation befitting the days when books were chained
to the desks. It suffers from a fatal symptom?the weakness of
extreme measures. And the inevitable result in the near future
will be a strong reaction: Convocation will presently be
compelled to adopt some palliation for the evil created by its
own folly.
The next move added meanness to inertness. I do not blame Mr. E.
B. Nicholson, Bodley's Librarian, because he probably had orders
to write the following choice specimen:
30/3/1887.
"DEAR SIR RICHARD BURTON,
"I have received two vols. of four (read six) 'Supplemental
Nights' with a subscription form. If a Bodleian MS. is to be
copied for any volume, I must stipulate that that volume be
supplied to us gratis. Either my leave or that of the Curators is
required for the purpose of copying for publication, and I have
no doubt that they would make the same stipulation. I feel sure
you would in any case not propose to charge us for such a volume,
but until I hear from you I am in a difficulty as to how to reply
to the subscription form I have received.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) E. B. NICHOLSON,
Librarian."
The able and energetic papers, two printed and one published by
Mr. H. W. Chandler, of Pembroke College, Oxford, clearly prove
the following facts:?
1. That on June 20, 1610, a Bodleian Statute peremptorily forbade
any books or manuscripts being taken out of the Library.
2. That, despite the peremptory and categorical forbiddance by
Bodley, Selden, and others, of lending Bodleian books and MSS.,
loans of both have for upwards of two centuries formed a
precedent.
3. That Bodley's Statute (June 20th, An. 1610) was formally and
officially abrogated by Convocation on May 22nd, 1856;
Convocation retaining the right to lend.
4. That a "privileged list" of (113) borrowers presently arose
and is spoken of as a normal practice:?sicut mos fuit, says the
Statute (Tit. xx. iii. § 11) of 1873; and, lastly,
5. That loans of MSS. and printed books have for years been
authorised to approved public libraries.
After these premises I proceed to notice other points bearing
upon the subject which, curious to say, are utterly neglected or
rather ignored by Mr. Chandler and "The Times." Sir Thomas Bodley
never would have condemned students to study in the Bodleian had
he known the peines fortes et dures to which in these days they
are thereby doomed. "So picturesque and so peculiar is its
construction," says a writer, "that it ensures the maximum of
inefficiency and discomfort." The whole building is a model of
what a library ought not to be. It is at once over solid and
ricketty: room for the storage of books is wanted, and its wooden
staircases, like touchwood or tinder, give one the shudders to
think of fire. True, matches and naked lights are forbidden in
the building; but all know how these prohibitions are regarded by
the public, and it is dreadful to think of what might result from
a lucifer dropped at dark upon the time-rotten planks. The
reading public in the XIXth century must content itself with
boxes or stalls, like those of an old-fashioned tavern or
coffee-house of the humbler sort wherein two readers can hardly
find room for sitting back to back. The atmosphere is unpleasant
and these mean little cribs, often unduly crowded, are so dark
that after the 1st October the reading-room must be closed at 3
p.m. What a contrast are the treasures in the Bodleian with their
mean and miserable surroundings and the way in which the public
is allowed to enjoy them. The whole establishment calls urgently
for reform. Accommodation for the books is wanted; floor and
walls will hardly bear the weight which grows every year at an
alarming ratio?witness the Novel-room. The model Bodleian would
be a building detached and isolated, the better to guard its
priceless contents, and containing at least double the area of
the present old and obsolete Bibliotheca. An establishment of the
kind was proposed in 1857; but unfortunately, the united wisdom
of the University preferred new "Examination Schools" for which
the old half-ruinous pile would have been sufficiently well
fitted. The "Schools," however, were for the benefit of the
examiners; ergò the scandalous sum of £100,000 (some double the
amount) was wasted upon the well-nigh useless Gothic humbug in
High Street, and thus no money was left for the prime want of the
city. After some experience of public libraries and reading-rooms
on the Continent of Europe I feel justified in asserting that the
Bodleian in its present condition is a disgrace to Oxford; indeed
a dishonour to letters in England.
The Bodleian has a succursale, the Radcliffe, which represents
simply a step from bad to worse. The building was intended for an
especial purpose, the storage of books, not for a salle de
lecture. Hence the so-called "Camera" is a most odious
institution, a Purgatory to readers. It is damp in the wet season
from October to May; stuffy during the summer heats and a cave of
Eolus in windy weather: few students except the youngest and
strongest, can support its changeable and nerve-depressing
atmosphere. Consequently the Camera is frequented mainly by the
townsfolk, a motley crew who there study their novels and
almanacs and shamefully misuse the books.[FN#425] In this
building lights, forbidden by the Bodleian, are allowed; it opens
at 10 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m.. and the sooner it reverts to
its original office of a book-depôt the better.
But the Bodleian-Radcliffe concern is typical of the town; and, if that call for reform, so emphatically does
"Oxford, that scarce deserves the name of land."
From my childhood I had heard endless tirades and much of what is
now called "blowing" about this ancient city, and my youth
(1840-42) suffered not a little disappointment. The old place,
still mostly resembling an overgrown monastery-village, lies in
the valley of the Upper Thames, a meadowland drained by two
ditches; the bigger or Ise, classically called the Isis, and the
lesser the Charwell. This bottom is surrounded by high and
healthy uplands, not as the guide-books say "low scarce-swelling
hills that softly gird the old town;" and these keep off the
winds and make the riverine valley, with its swamped meads and
water-meadows, more fenny and feverish even than Cambridge. The
heights and woods bring on a mild deluge between October 1st and
May 1st; the climate is rainy as that of Shap in Westmoreland
(our old home) and, as at Fernando Po and Singapore, the rain it
raineth more or less every day during one half of the year. The
place was chosen by the ancient Britons for facility of water
transport, but men no longer travel by the Thames and they have
naturally neglected the older road. Throughout England, indeed a
great national work remains to be done. Not a river, not a
rivulet, but what requires cleaning out and systematic excavation
by élévateurs and other appliances of the Suez Canal. The
channels filled up by alluvium and choked by the American weed,
are now raised so high that the beds can no longer act as drains:
at Oxford for instance the beautiful meadows of Christ Church are
little better than swamps and marshes, the fittest homes for
Tertiana, Quartana and all the fell sisterhood: a blue fog broods
over the pleasant site almost every evening, and a thrust with
the umbrella opens up water. This is the more inexcusable as the
remedy would be easy and by no means costly: the river-mud, if
the ignorant peasants only knew the fact, forms the best of
manures; and this, instead of being deposited in spoil-heaps on
the banks for the rain to wash back at the first opportunity,
should be carried by tram-rails temporarily laid down and be
spread over the distant fields, thus almost paying for the dredge
works. Of course difficulties will arise: the management of the
Thames is under various local "Boards," and each wooden head is
able and aye ready to show its independence and ill temper at the
sacrifice of public interests to private fads.
Hence the climate of Oxford is detestable. Strong undergraduates
cannot withstand its nervous depression and the sleeplessness
arising from damp air charged with marsh gases and bacteria. All
students take time to become acclimatized here, and some are
never acclimatized at all. And no wonder, when the place is
drained by a fetid sewer of greenish yellow hue containing per
10,000, 245 parts of sewage. The only tolerable portion of the
year is the Long Vacation, when the youths in mortar-boards all
vanish from the view, while many of the oldsters congregate in
the reformed convents called Colleges.
Climate and the resolute neglect of sanitation are probably the
chief causes why Oxford never yet produced a world-famous and
epoch-making man, while Cambridge can boast of Newton and Darwin.
The harlequin city of domes and spires, cribs and slums shows
that curious concurrence of opposites so common in England. The
boasted High Street is emblematical of the place, where moral as
well as material extremes meet and are fain to dwell side by
side. It is a fine thoroughfare branching off into mere lanes,
neither these nor that apparently ever cleaned. The huge
buildings of scaling, mouldering stone are venerable-looking
piles which contrast sadly with the gabled cottages of crepi,
hurlin, or wattle and dab; and the brand-new store with its
plate-glass windows hustles the old-fashioned lollipop-shop. As
regards minor matters there are new market passages but no Public
Baths; and on Sundays, the stands are destitute of cabs, although
with that queer concession to democracy which essentially belongs
to the meaner spirited sort of Conservatism, "'busses" are
allowed to ply after 2 p.m., when the thunder of bells somewhat
abates.
Old "Alma Mater," who to me has ever been a "durissima noverca,"
dubs herself "University;" and not a few of her hopefuls entre
faiblesse et folie, still entitle themselves "University men."
The title once belonged to Oxford but now appertains to it no
more. Compare with it the model universities of Berlin, Paris and
Vienna, where the lists of lecturers bear the weightiest names in
the land. Oxford is but a congeries of twenty-one colleges and
five halls or hostels, each educating its pupils (more or less)
with an especial eye to tutors' fees and other benefices, the
vested rights of the "Dons." Thus all do their best to prevent
the scholars availing themselves of University, as opposed to
Collegiate, lectures; and thus they can stultify a list of some
sixty-six professors. This boarding-school system is simply a
dishonest obstacle to students learning anything which may be of
use to them in after-life, such as modern and Oriental languages,
chemistry, anthropology and the other -ologies. Here in fact men
rarely progress beyond the Trivium and the Quadrivium of the Dark
Ages, and tuition is a fine study of the Res scibilis as
understood by the Admirable Crichton and other worthies, circa
A.D. 1500. The students of Queen Elizabeth's day would here?and
here only?find themselves in congenial company. Worse still,
Oxford is no longer a "Seat of learning" or a "House of the
Muses," nor can learned men be produced under the present system.
The place has become a collection of finishing schools, in fact
little better than a huge board for the examination of big boys
and girls.
Oxford and her education are thoroughly disappointing; but the
sorest point therein is that this sham University satisfies the
hapless Public, which knows nothing about its fainéance. It is a
mere stumbling-block in the way of Progress especially barring
the road to one of the main wants of English Education, a great
London University which should not be ashamed to stand by Berlin,
Paris and Vienna.
Had the good knight and "Pious Founder," Sir Thomas Bodley, who
established his library upon the ruins of the University
Bibliotheca wrecked by the "Reformation," been able to foresee
the condition of Oxford and her libraries?Bodleian and
Radcliffean?in this latter section of the XIXth century, he
would hardly, I should hope, have condemned English students and
Continental scholars to compulsory residence and labour in places
so akin to the purgatorial.
Appendix B.
THE THREE UNTRANSLATED TALES IN MR. E. J. W. GIBB'S "FORTY
VEZIRS."
THE THIRTY-EIGHTH VEZIR'S STORY.
(Page 353 of Mr. Gibb's translation.)
There was in the city of Cairo a merchant, and one day he bought
a slave-girl, and took her to his house. There was in his house
an ape; this the merchant fetched and dragged up to the
slave-girl. He said, "Yield thyself over to this, and I will set
thee free." The slave-girl did so of necessity, and she conceived
by him. When her time was come she bare a son all of whose
members were shaped like those of a man, save that he had a tail
like an ape. The merchant and the slave-girl occupied themselves
bringing up this son. One day, when the son was five or six
months old, the merchant filled a large cauldron with milk, and
lighted a great fire under it. When it was boiling, he seized the
son and cast him into the cauldron; and the girl began to lament.
The merchant said, "Be silent, make no lamentation; go and be
free;" and he gave her some sequins. Then he turned, and the
cauldron had boiled so that not even any bones were left. The
merchant took down the cauldron, and placed seven strainers, one
above the other; and he took the scum that had gathered on the
liquid in the cauldron and filtered it through the seven
strainers, and he took that which was in the last and put it into
a bottle. And the slave-girl bare in her heart bitter hatred
against the merchant, and she said in herself, "Even as thou hast
burned my liver will I burn thee;" and she began to watch her
opportunity. (One day) the merchant said to her, "Make ready some
food," and went out. So the girl cooked the food, and she mixed
some of that poison in the dish. When the merchant returned she
brought the tray and laid it down, and then withdrew into a
corner. The merchant took a spoonful of that food, and as soon as
he put it into his mouth, he knew it to be the poison, and he
cast the spoon that was in his hand at the girl. A piece, of the
bigness of a pea, of that poisoned food fell from the spoon on
the girl's hand, and it made the place where it fell black. As
for the merchant, he turned all black, and swelled till he became
like a blown-out skin, and he died. But the slave-girl medicined
herself and became well; and she kept what remained of the poison
and sold it to those who asked for it.
THE FORTIETH VEZIR'S STORY.
(Page 366 in Mr. Gibb's translation.)
There was of old time a tailor, and he had a fair wife. One day
this woman sent her slave-girl to the carder's to get some cotton
teased. The slave-girl went to the carder's shop and gave him
cotton for a gown to get teased. The carder while teasing the
cotton displayed his yard to the slave-girl. She blushed and
passed to his other side. As she thus turned round the carder
displayed his yard on that side also. Thus the slave-girl saw it
on that side too. And she went and said to her mistress, "Yon
carder, to whom I went, has two yards." The lady said to her, "Go
and say to yon carder, 'My mistress wishes thee; come at night.'"
So the slave-girl went and said this to the carder. As soon as it
was night the carder went to that place and waited. The woman
went out and met the carder and said, "Come and have to do with
me while I am lying by my husband." When it was midnight the
carder came and waked the woman. The woman lay conveniently and
the carder fell to work. She felt that the yard which entered her
was but one, and said, "Ah my soul, carder, at it with both of
them." While she was softly speaking her husband awaked and
asked, "What means thy saying, 'At it with both of them?'" He
stretched out his hand to his wife's kaze and the carder's yard
came into it. The carder drew himself back and his yard slipped
out of the fellow's hand, and he made shift to get away. The
fellow said, "Out on thee, wife, what meant that saying of thine,
'At it with both of them?'" The woman said, "O husband, I saw in
my dream that thou wast fallen into the sea and wast swimming
with one hand and crying out, 'Help! I am drowning!' I shouted to
thee from the shore, 'At it with both of them,' and thou
begannest to swim with both thy hands." Then the husband said,
"Wife, I too know that I was in the sea, from this that a wet
fish came into my hand and then slipped out and escaped; thou
speakest truly." And he loved his wife more than before.
THE LADY'S THIRTY-FOURTH STORY.
(From the India Office MS.)
(Page 399 in Mr. Gibb's translation.)
They tell that there was a Khoja and he had an exceeding fair
son, who was so beautiful that he who looked upon him was
confounded. This Khoja watched over his son right carefully; he
let him not come forth from a certain private chamber, and he
left not the ribbon of his trousers unsealed. When the call to
prayer was chanted from the minaret, the boy would ask his father
saying, "Why do they cry out thus?" and the Khoja would answer,
"Someone has been undone and has died, and they are calling out
to bury him." And the boy believed these words. The beauty of
this boy was spoken of in Persia; and a Khoja came from Persia to
Baghdad with his goods and chattels for the love of this boy. And
he struck up a friendship with the boy's father, and ever gave to
him his merchandise at an easy price, and he sought to find out
where his son abode. When the Khoja had discovered that the boy
was kept safe in that private chamber, he one day said to his
father, "I am about to go to a certain place; and I have a chest
whereinto I have put whatsoever I possess of valuables; this I
shall send to thee, and do thou take it and shut it up in that
chamber where thy son is." And the father answered, "Right
gladly." So the Khoja let build a chest so large that he himself
might lie in it, and he put therein wine and all things needful
for a carouse. Then he said to his servant, "Go, fetch a porter
and take this chest to the house of Khoja Such-an-one, and say,
'My master has sent this to remain in your charge,' and leave it
and come away. And again on the morrow go and fetch it, saying,
'My master wishes the chest.'" So the servant went for a porter,
and the Khoja hid himself in the chest. Then the boy laded the
porter with the chest and took it to the other Khoja's house,
where he left it and went away. When it was night the Khoja came
forth from the chest, and he saw a moon-face sleeping in the
bed-clothes, and a candle was burning in a candlestick at his
head; and when the Khoja beheld this he was confounded and
exclaimed, "And blessed be God, the fairest of Creators!"[FN#426]
Then the Khoja laid out the wine and so forth; and he went up
softly and waked the boy. And the boy arose from his place and
addressed himself to speak, saying, "Wherefore hast thou come
here?" Straightway the Khoja filled a cup and gave it to him,
saying, "Drink this, and then I shall tell thee what manner of
man I am." And he besought the boy and spread out sequins before
him. So the boy took the cup and drank what was in it. When the
Khoja had given him to drink three or four cups the face of the
boy grew tulip-hued, and he became heated with the wine and began
to sport with the Khoja. So all that night till morning did the
Khoja make merry with the boy; and whatsoever his desire was, he
attained thereto. When it was morning, the Khoja again went into
the chest; and the servant came and laded the porter with the
same and took it back to his house. And on the morrow, when the
boy and his father were sitting together, the mu'ezzin chanted
the call to prayer, whereupon the boy exclaimed, "Out on thee,
father; and the boy who is undone dies, and so this fellow goes
up there and bawls out; last night they undid me; how is it that
I am not dead?" Then the father smote the boy on the mouth and
said, "Speak not such words; they are a shame." And then he knew
why the chest had come.
Arabian Nights, Volume 14
Footnotes
[FN#1] From the Wortley Montague MS. vol. iii. pp. 80-96. J.
Scott: vol. vi. pp. 1-7. Histoire du Sulthan d'Yemen et de ses
trois fils; Gauttier vol. vi. pp. 158-165.
[FN#2] The worst disease in human life, now recognised as "Annus
Domini."
[FN#3] Arab. "Mál wa Ghawál": in Badawi parlance "Mál" would = flocks and herds (pecunia, pecus); and amongst the burghers = ready money, coin. Another favourite jingle of similar import is "Mál wa Nawál."
This is an older form of the Sultan of Al-Yaman and his three sons, taken from M. Zotenberg's "Chronique de Tabari," vol. ii. pp. 357-61.
Après la mort de Nizár, ses fils, en prenant possession des objets que leur père avait donnés à chacun, eurent des contestations relativement aux autres biens. Alors ils montèrent sur des chameaux pour se rendre à Nadjrân auprès du devin, voulant soumettre à son jugement le partage. Sur la route, ils rencontrèrent un terrain couvert d'herbe, dont une partie était broutée, et une partie intacte. Modhar dit: Le chameau qui a brouté cette herbe est borgne de l'œil droit. Rabî'a dit: Il est boiteux du pied droit. Iyâd dit: Il a la queue coupée. Anmâr dit: Il s'est échappé des mains de son maître, parce qu'il est farouche. Un peu plus loin, ils rencontrèrent un homme monté sur un chameau; ils lui demandèrent qui il était. Il répondit qu'il était de telle tribu, et qu'il était à la recherche d'un chameau qui s'était échappé. Modhar lui dit: Ce chameau n'est-il pas borgne de l'œil droit??Oui, répondit l'homme.?Ne penche-t-il pas du côté droit? demanda Rabî'a.?Oui.?Il n'a pas de queue, dit Iyâd.?C'est vrai, répondit l'homme.?Anmâr ajouta: Il est farouche.?Oui, dit l'homme; où est-il, ce chameau??Nous ne l'avons pas vu, dirent les frères.?Si vous ne l'avez vu, réplique l'homme, comment savez-vous toutes ces particularités? Il insista et dit: C'est certainement vous qui l'avez; rendez-le moi.?Nous ne l'avons pas. Il leur demanda où ils allaient. Les frères lui dirent qu'ils se rendaient à Nadjrân, auprès d'Af'a, le devin, pour soumettre à son jugement un différend qui s'était élevé entre eux. Cet homme, qui était seul, s'attacha à leurs pas, et suivit les quatre frères jusqu'à Nadjrân.
Af'a ne les connaissait pas, mais il les re{ç}ut gracieusement et leur demanda le but de leur voyage. Ils lui dirent: Notre père est mort, et nous ne pouvons pas nous accorder sur la partage de ses biens; nous sommes venus afin que tu prononces entre nous quatre; nous sommes tombés d'accord de nous soumettre à ton jugement. Alors le propriétaire du chameau dit: Arrange d'abord l'affaire de mon chameau entre eux et moi; j'ai perdu un chameau, ce sont eux qui le tiennent. Af'a lui dit: Comment sais-tu qu'ils l'ont? L'homme répondit: Parce qu'ils m'ont donné son signalement: s'ils ne l'avaient pas vu, comment le sauraient-ils? Modhar dit: J'ai reconnu que ce chameau était borgne de l'œil droit, parce qu'il avait brouté l'herbe d'un côté seulement, et qu'il ne l'avait pas touché du côté où elle était meilleure. Rabî'a dit: J'ai remarqué que son pied droit avait imprimé sur le sol des traces bien marquées et je n'ai vu celles de l'autre pied; de là j'ai su qu'il penchait du côté droit. Iyâd dit: J'ai vu que ses crottins étaient réunis en tas, comme ceux du bœuf, et non comme sont ordinairement ceux du chameau, qui les écrase (éparpille?) avec sa queue; j'ai reconnu par là qu'il n'avait pas de queue. Anmâr dit: J'ai remarqué que l'herbe n'était pas broutée à un seul et même endroit, mais qu'il avait pris partout une bouchée: j'ai su que le chameau était d'un caract{è}re farouche et inquiet. Le devin admirait le savoir et l'intelligence des quatre frères. Cette manière de juger fait partie de l'art de la divination, et on l'appelle bâb al-tazkîn; c'est une des branches de la science. Ensuite le devin dit au propriétaire de chameau: Ces gens-là n'ont pas ton chameau; va-t'en. Ayant demandé aux quatre frères qui ils étaient, et ceux-ci lui ayant déclaré qu'ils étaient les fils de Nizâr, fils de Ma'add, fils d'Adnân, le devin dit: excusez-moi de ne vous avoir pas reconnus; j'ai été lié d'amitié avec votre père: soyez mes hôtes ce jour et cette nuit, demain j'arrangerai votre affaire. Ils consentirent. Le père et les ancêtres de ce devin avaient été chefs de Nadjrân.
Le devin leur fit préparer un repas. On leur servit un agneau rôti et une cruche de vin, et ils mangèrent. Lorsque le vin leur monta à la tête, Modhar dit: Je n'ai jamais bu un vin plus doux que celui-ci; mais il vient d'une vigne plantée sur un tombeau. Rabî'a dit: Je n'ai jamais mangé de la viande d'agneau plus succulente que celle-ci; mais cette agneau a été nourri du lait d'une chienne. Anmâr dit: {L}e blé qui a servi à faire le pain que nous venons de manger a été semé dans un cimetière. Iyâd dit: Notre hôte est un excellent homme; mais il n'est pas un fils légitime; ce n'est pas son père (légal) qui l'a engendré, mais un autre homme; sa mère l'a conçut dans l'adultère.
Le devin recueillit leurs paroles, mais il ne leur en dit rien. Quand la nuit fut venue et qu'ils furent endormis, il appela son intendant et lui demanda de quelle vigne provenait le vin (que l'on avait servi aux hôtes). L'intendant dit: Une vigne a poussée sur le tombeau de ton père et elle est devenue grande; j'en ai recueilli le raisin, et ce vin en provient. Ensuite le devin fit venir le berger, et le questionna relativement à l'agneau. Le berger dit: Quand cet agneau vint au monde, il était très-joli; mais s{a} mère mourut, et il n'y avait pas alors de brebis qui e{u}t mis bas. Une chienne avait eu des petits; je mis cet agneau avec la chienne jusqu'à ce qu'il f{u}t grand. Je n'en ai pas trouvé de meilleur pour te l'apporter, lorsque tu m'as fait demander un agneau. Enfin le devin appela le métayer, et l'interrogea sur le blé. Le métayer lui dit: Il y a d'un côté de notre champ un cimetière. Cette année-ci j'ai ensemencé une partie du cimetière, et c'est de là que provient le blé que je t'ai apporté. Le devin, fort étonné de ces explications, dit: Maintenant c'est le tour de ma mère. Il alla trouver sa mère et lui dit: Si tu ne m'avoues pas la vérité en ce qui me concerne, je te fais mourir. Sa mère parla ainsi: Ton père était le chef de ce peuple et possédait de grandes richesses. Comme je n'avais pas d'enfant de lui, je craignis qu'à sa mort ses biens ne tombassent entre des mains étrangères et qu'un autre ne prit le pouvoir. Un Arabe, homme de belle figure, fut un jour l'hôte de ton père; je m'abandonnai à lui, la nuit; je devins enceinte, et c'est à lui que tu dois ta naissance. J'ai dit à ton père que tu avais été engendré par lui.
Le lendemain, le devin interrogea les quatres frères sur leur paroles, en disant: Je veux que vous me fassiez connaître comment vous avez su les choses que vous avez dites. Modhar, le premier, lui dit: Je su que la vigne était plantée sur un tombeau, parce que, quand nous avions bu le vin, nous devenions tristes et nous avions la figure altérée; ce qui n'est pas l'effet ordinaire du vin. Le deuxième, dit: J'ai reconnu ce qui concernait l'agneau, parce que nous n'avions mangé de viande plus douce que celle-là, et qu'il n'y a, dans le monde, rien de plus doux que le lait de la chienne. Le troisième dit: Les Arabes honorent beaucoup leurs hôtes; lorsqu'ils traitent des hôtes, ils restent avec eux et partagent leur repas; mais toi tu nous as fait servir le repas, tu nous as quittés et tu t'{a}s mis à épier nos paroles. J'ai reconnu par là ta condition; j'ai remarqué que tu n'avais pas la gravité des Arabes, et j'ai pensé qu'il y avait quelque illégalité dans ton origine. Le quatrième dit: J'ai reconnu la qualité du blé, parce que le blé semé dans un cimetière donne au pain un goût de terre; et j'ai trouvé ce goût dans ce pain. Le devin leur dit: Vous êtes plus savant que moi; vous n'avez pas besoin de mon jugement. Ils répliquèrent: Quand deux personnes ont un differend, il faut un tiers pour juger, qu'il soit savant ou non. Ce sont les dernières volontés de notre père, qui nous a dit de nous en rapporter à ton jugement, si nous n'étions pas d'accord sur l'héritage. Le devin dit: Indiquez-moi exactement ce que votre père a donné à chacun de vous et ce qu'il a laissé. Notre père, dirent-ils, a laissé de l'or, de l'argent, des chevaux, des moutons, des tapis et des vases de toute espèce et en grand nombre. Ils racontèrent ensuite ce que leur père avait donné à chacun d'eux. Le devin dit: Laissez à Modhar tout ce que votre père avait en fait d'or et de chameaux; car ces objets sont rouges. Donnez les chevaux, les esclaves et les vêtements noirs à Rabî'a; les esclaves blancs, l'argent et les vêtements blancs à Iyâd, et les tapis et les moutons à Anmâr. Les quatre frères acceptèrent cette sentence, et s'en retournèrent.
[FN#4] In the W. M. MS. the sisters are called "Shahrzádeh"
(= City-born) and "Dinárzádeh" (= ducat-born) and the royal
brothers Shahrbáz (= City-player or City-falcon) and Kahramán
(vol. i. p. 1) alias Samarbán (ibid.). I shall retain the old
spelling.
[FN#5] I have hitherto translated "wa adraka (masc.) Shahrázáda
al-Sabáh," as = And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day; but it is more correct as well as more picturesque to render the phrase
"was surprised (or overtaken) by the dawn."
[FN#6] Arab. "'Adrán," the root being 'Adr = much and heavy rain.
[FN#7] For "Halwá" see vol. ii. pp. 47-212. Scott (vol. vi. 413) explains "Hámiz" as "a species of small grain," probably
confounding it with Hummus (or Himmis) = vetches. It is the pop.
term for pickles, "sour meat" as opposed to "sweetmeats." The
Arabs divide the camel's pasture into "Khullah" which means sweet food called bread and into "Hámiz" termed fruit: the latter is composed mainly of salsolaceæ, and as camels feed upon it during the hot season it makes them drink. Hence in Al-Hariri (Preface) "I change the pasture," i.e., I pass from grave to gay, from light to dignified style. (Chenery, p. 274).
[FN#8] This is the modern version of the tale which the author
of "Zadig" has made familiar to Europe. The hero is brought
before the King and Queen of Babylon for stealing a horse and a
dog; and, when held by the chief "Destour" (priest) to be a
thief, justifies himself. I have given in full the older history
from Tabari, the historian (vixit A.D. 839-923). For the tracker
("Paggí") and the art of tracking see Sind Revisited, i. 180-183. I must again express my wonder that the rural police of Europe still disdain the services of trained dogs when these are about to be introduced into the army.
[FN#9] Arab. "Bitá'i"=my own. I have already noticed that this
is the Egypt. form and the Nilotes often turn the 'Ayn into an H, e.g. Bitáht for Bitá'at, e.g. Ash Shabakah bitáht as-Sayd, thy net for fishing. (Spitta Bey, Contes Arabes Modernes, p. 43.)
[FN#10] Arab. "Mukabbab;" prop. vaulted, arched, domed in Kubbah (or cupola)-shape.
[FN#11] Arab. "Firásah." "Sciences are of three kinds: one the
science of Faith, another the science of Physiognomy (Firásah),
and another the science of the Body; but unless there be the
science of Physiognomy, other science availeth not." So says "The Forty Vizirs:" Lady's vith story and Vizir's xxxist story. For a note on "Firásah" see vol. viii. 326.
[FN#12] Arab. "In lam tazidd Kayní" = lit. unless thou oppose my forming or composition.
[FN#13] Arab. "Faráfish," a word which I cannot find in the
dictionary, and so translate according to the context. Dr.
Steingass remarks that the nearest approach to it would be
"Faráfík" (plur. of Furfák)=fine, thin or soft bread.
[FN#14] See, in the "Turkish Tales" by Petis de la Croix (Weber, Tales of the East, vol. iii. 196), the History of the Sophi of Baghdad, where everything returns to (or resembles) its origin. Thus the Wazir who proposed to cut up a criminal and hang him in the shambles was the self-convicted son of a butcher; he who advised boiling him down and giving his flesh to the dogs was the issue of a cook, and the third who proposed to pardon him was nobly born. See Night cccxli.
[FN#15] Arab. "Al-Mafyaat," lit. = a shady place; a locality
whereupon the sun does not rise.
[FN#16] Arab. "Ja'ídiyah," a favourite word in this MS.
"Ja'ad" = a curl, a liberal man: Ja'ad al-yad = miserly, and Abú ja'dah = father of curls, = a wolf. Scott (passim) translates the word "Sharper;" Gore Ouseley "Labourer;" and De Sacy
(Chrestomathie ii. 369, who derives it from Ju'd = avoir les
cheveux crépus): in Egypt, homme de la populace, canaille. He
finds it in the Fabrica Linguæ Arab. of Germanus of Silesia (p.
786) = ignavis, hebes, stupidus, esp. a coward. Ibrahim Salamah of Alexandria makes the term signify in Syria, impudent, thieving, wicked. Spitta Bey translates this word musicien ambulant in his Gloss. to Contes Arabes, p. 171. According to Dr. Steingass, who, with the Muhít al-Muhít, reads "Ju'aydíyah," Ju'ayd is said to be the P. N. of an Egyptian clown, who, with bell-hung cap and tambourine in hand, wandered about the streets singing laudatory doggrel and pestering the folk for money. Many vagabonds who adopted this calling were named after him and the word was generalised in that sense.
[FN#17] MS. vol. iii. pp. 96-121. Scott, "Story of the Three
Sharpers and the Sultan," pp. 7-17; Gauttier, Histoire des trois
filous et d'un Sulthan, vi. 165-176.
[FN#18] Arab. Yasrahú = roaming, especially at early dawn; hence
the wolf is called "Sirhán," and Yaklishu (if I read it aright)
is from {root} Kulsh, and equivalent to "kicking" (their heels).
[FN#19] Nusf = half a dirham, drachma or franc, see ii. 37; vi.
214, etc.
[FN#20] Bast, a preparation of Bhang (Cannabis Sativa), known in
Egypt but not elsewhere: see Lane, M. E., chapt. xv. Here it is
made synonymous with "Hashísh" = Bhang in general.
[FN#21] Ghaushah, a Persianism for which "Ghaughá" is a more
common form. "Ghaush" is a tree of hard wood whereof musical
instruments were made; hence the mod. words "Ghásha" and
"Ghawwasha" = he produced a sound, and "Ghaushah" = tumult, quarrel. According to Dr. Steingass, the synon. in the native dicts. are "Khisám," "Laghat," "Jalabah," etc.
[FN#22] Said ironicè, the jeweller being held to be one of the
dishonest classes, like the washerman, the water-carrier, the
gardener, etc. In England we may find his representative in the
"silversmith," who will ask a pound sterling for a bit of metal
which cost him perhaps five shillings or even less, and who hates
to be bought by weight. The Arab. has "Jauhar-ji," a Turkish form
for Jauhari; and here "jauhar" apparently means a pearl, the
stone once peculiar to royalty in Persia, but the kind of gem is
left undetermined.
[FN#23] Arab. "Sáza, yasízu," not a dictionary word. Perhaps it
is a clerical error for "Sasa," he groomed or broke in a horse,
hence understood all about horses.
[FN#24] In the orig. "Shorbah," Pers. = a mess of pottage: I have
altered it for reasons which will presently appear.
[FN#25] Arab. "Ghabasah," from Ghabas=obscure, dust-coloured.
[FN#26] Arab. "Súsah" = a weevil, a moth, a worm. It does not mean simply a flaw, but a live animal (like our toads in the rock); and in the popular version of the tale the lapidary discovers its presence by the stone warming in his hand.
[FN#27] Arab. "Mashá'íli" the cresset-bearer who acted hangman:
see vol. i. 259, etc.
[FN#28] Arab. "Ta'kíl," tying up a camel's foreleg above the
knee; the primary meaning of 'Akl, which has so many secondary
significations.
[FN#29] Arab. "Suwán," lit. = rock, syenite, hard stone, flint;
here a marteau de guerre.
[FN#30] Arab. "Hálik" = intensely black, so as to look blue under a certain angle of light.
[FN#31] Arab. "Rikáb" (= stirrup) + "dár" Pers. (= holder).
[FN#32] I have ransacked dictionaries and vocabularies but the
word is a mere blank.
[FN#33] Arab. "Jámúsah." These mules are believed in by the
Arabs. Shaw and other travellers mention the Mauritanian
"Jumart," the breed between a bull and a mare (or jennyass) or an ass and a cow. Buffon disbelieved in the mongrel, holding it to be a mere bardeau, got by a stallion horse out of an ass.
Voltaire writes "Jumarre" after German fashion and Littré derives it from jument + art (finale péjorative), or the Languedoc "Gimere" which according to Diez suggests "Chimæra." Even in London not many years ago a mule was exhibited as the issue of a horse and a stag. No Indian ever allows his colt to drink buffalo's milk, the idea being that a horse so fed will lie down in instead of fording or swimming a stream.
[FN#34] See Sindbad the Seaman, vol. vi. 9.
[FN#35] Arab. "Mubattat" from batt = a duck: in Persia the
Batt-i-May is a wine-glass shaped like the duck. Scott (vi. 12)
translates "thick and longish."
[FN#36] Arab. "his Harím"; see vol. i. 165; iv. 126. VOL. XIV.
[FN#37] Again "he" for she. See vol. ii. 179.
[FN#38] Arab. "Gháziyah": for the plur. "Ghawázi" see vol. i.
214; also Lane (M.E.) index under "Ghazeeyehs."
[FN#39] The figure prothesis without apodosis. Understand "will
slay thee": see vol. vi. 203.
[FN#40] Because the girl had not been a professional dancer, i.e
a public prostitute.
[FN#41] Arab. "Amán" = quarter, mercy: see vol. i. 342.
[FN#42] For the "Mandíl" of mercy see vol. i. 343; for that of
dismissal x. 47 and Ibn Khall. iv. 211. In Spitta Bey's "Contes
Arabes" (p. 223), I find throwing the kerchief (tarammá al
mahramah) used in the old form of choosing a mate. In the Tale of the Sultan of Al-Yaman and his three Sons (Supplem. Nights, vol. iv.) the Princesses drop their kerchiefs upon the head of the Prince who had saved them, by way of pointing him out.
[FN#43] Arab. "Sattár:" see vols. i. 258 and iii. 41.
[FN#44] In the text "Arghá" for "Arkhá" = he "brayed" (like an
ostrich, etc.) for "his limbs relaxed." It reminds one of the
German missionary's fond address to his flock, "My prethren, let
us bray!"
[FN#45] Arab. "Azbad," from {root} Zbd (Zabd) = foaming, frothing, etc., whence "Zubaydah," etc.
[FN#46] Arab. {root} "Zabh" (Zbh) = the ceremonial killing of animals for food: see vols. v. 391; viii. 44. I may note, as a proof of how modern is the civilisation of Europe that the domestic fowl was unknown to Europe till about the time of Pericles (ob. B.C. 429).
[FN#47] See in "The Forty Vizirs" (Lady's ivth Tale) how Khizr
tells the King the origin of his Ministers from the several
punishments which they propose for the poor man. I have noticed
this before in Night cccxxxiii. Boethius, translated by Chaucer,
explains the underlying idea, "All thynges seken ayen to hir
propre course and all thynges rejoysen in hir returninge agayne
to hir nature."
[FN#48] For the Taylasán hood see vol. iv. 286.
[FN#49] The "Kalansuwah"-cap is noted by Lane (A. N. chapt. iii.
22) as "Kalensuweh." In M. E. (Supplement i. "The Copts") he
alters the word to Kalás'weh and describes it as a strip of
woollen stuff, of a deep blue or black colour, about four inches
wide, attached beneath the turban and hanging down the back to
the length of about a foot. It is the distinguishing mark of the
Coptic regular clergy.
[FN#50] W. M. MS. vol. iii. pp. 121-141. Scott, "The Adventures
of the abdicated Sultan," pp. 18-19; including the "History of
Mahummud, Sultan of Cairo," pp. 20-30.
[FN#51] "Káhirah." I repeat my belief (Pilgrimage i. 171) that
"Káhirah," whence our "Cairo" through the Italian corruption,
means not la victorieuse (Medinat al-Káhirah) as D'Herbelot has
it; but City of Káhir or Mars the planet. It was so called
because as Richardson informed the world (sub voce) it was
founded in A.H. 358 (= A.D. 968) when the warlike planet was in
the ascendant by the famous General Jauhar a Dalmatian renegade
(not a "Greek slave") for the first of the Fatimite dynasty
Al-Mu'izz li 'l-dini 'lláh.
[FN#52] According to Caussin de Perceval (père) in his
translation of the "Contes Arabes," there are four wonders in the Moslem world: (1) the Pharos of Alexandria; (2) the Bridge of Sanjia in Northern Syria; (3) The Church of Rohab (Edessa); and (4) the Amawi Mosque of Damascus.
[FN#53] Arab. "Faddah," lit. = silver, because made of copper
alloyed with nobler metal; the smallest Egyptian coin = Nuss (i.e. Nusf, or half a dirham) and the Turk. paráh. It is the fortieth of the piastre and may be assumed at the value of a
quarter-farthing.
[FN#54] This word, in Egypt. "Harág," is the cry with which the
Dallál (broker) announces each sum bidden at an auction.
[FN#55] The Portuguese Xerafim: Supplemental Nights, vol. iii.
166.
[FN#56] A Khan or caravanserai: see vol. i. 266 and Pilgrimage i. 60.
[FN#57] Arab. "Hilm" (vision) "au 'Ilm" (knowledge) a phrase
peculiar to this MS.
[FN#58] The careless scribe forgets that the Sultan is speaking
and here drops into the third person. This "Enallage of persons"
is, however, Koranic and therefore classical: Arab critics aver
that in such cases the "Hikáyah" (= literal reproduction of a
discourse, etc.) passes into an "Ikhbár" = mere account of the same discourse). See Al Mas'údi iii. 216. I dare not reproduce this figure in English.
[FN#59] Arab. "Auzah," the Pers. Oták and the Turk. Otah (vulg.
"Oda" whence "Odalisque"), a popular word in Egypt and Syria.
[FN#60] Arab. "Al-Afandiyah" showing the late date or reduction
of the tale. The Turkish word derives from the Romaic Afentis
(?f??t??) the corrupted O.G. a????t?? = an absolute commander, and "authentie." The word should not be written as usual "Effendi," but "Efendi," as Prof. Galland has been careful to do.
[FN#61] Arab. "Al-dakhlah"; repeatedly referred to in The Nights. The adventure is a replica of that in "Abu Mohammed hight Lazybones," vol. iv., pp. 171-174.
[FN#62] Usual in the East, not in England, where some mothers are idiots enough not to tell their daughters what to expect on the wedding night. Hence too often unpleasant surprises, disgust and dislike. The most modern form is that of the chloroform'd bride upon whose pillow the bridegroom found a paper pinned and
containing the words, "Mamma says you're to do what you like."
[FN#63] Arab. "Akhaztu dam wajhhi-há."
[FN#64] Arab. "Dilk" more commonly "Khirkah," the tattered and
pieced robe of a religious mendicant.
[FN#65] Arab. "Darbálah." Scott (p. 24) must have read
"Gharbálah" when he translated "A turban full of holes as a
sieve." In classical Arabic the word is written "Darbalah," and
seems to correspond with the Egyptian "Darábukkah," a tabor of
wood or earthenware figured by Lane (M.E. chapt. xviii.). It is,
like the bowl, part of the regular Darwaysh's begging gear.
[FN#66] Vulg. Maghribi. For this word see the story of Alaeddin,
Supplem., vol. iii. 51. According to Heron, "History of
Maugraby," the people of Provence, Languedoc and Gascony use
Maugraby as a term of cursing: Maugrebleu being used in other
parts of France.
[FN#67] In text "Fanárát"; the Arab. plur. of the Pers. "Fanár" = a light-house, and here equiv. to the Mod. Gr. fa???, a lantern, the Egypt. "Fánús."
[FN#68] This Sultan of the Jann preceded by sweepers,
flag-bearers and tent-pitchers always appears in the form of
second-sight called by Egyptians "Darb al Mandal" = striking the
magic circle in which the enchanter sits when he conjures up
spirits. Lane (M. E. chapt. xii.) first made the "Cairo Magician" famous in Europe, but Herklots and others had described a cognate practice in India many years before him.
[FN#69] Arab, "Jáwúsh" for Cháwush (vulg. Chiaush) Turk. = an army-serjeant, a herald or serjeant-at-arms; an apparitor or officer of the Court of Chancery (not a "Mace-bearer or Messenger," Scott). See vol. vii. 327.
[FN#70] Arab. from Persian "Bímáristán," a "sick-house,"
hospital, a mad-house: see vol. i. 288.
[FN#71] The text says only that "he was reading:" sub. the Holy
Volume.
[FN#72] MS. vol. iii., pp. 142-168. Scott, "Story of the First
Lunatic," pp. 31 44. Gauttier, Histoire du Premier Fou, vol. vi.
187. It is identical with No. ii. of Chavis and Cazotte,
translated by C. de Perceval, Le Bimaristan (i.e. the Hospital),
ou Histoire du jeune Marchand de Bagdad et de la Dame inconnue
(vol. viii. pp. 179-180). Heron terms it the "Story of Halechalbe (Ali Chelebi?) and the Unknown Lady," and the narrative is provided with a host of insipid and incorrect details, such as "A gentleman enjoying his pipe." The motif of this tale is common in Arab. folk-lore, and it first appears in the "Tale of Azíz and Azízah," ii. 328. A third variant will occur further on.
[FN#73] Spelt in vol. iii. 143 and elsewhere, "Khwájá" for
"Khwájah."
[FN#74] Arab. "Hubban li-raasik," = out of love for thy head, i.e. from affection for thee. Dr. Steingass finds it analogous with the Koranic "Hubban li 'llahi" (ii. 160), where it is joined with "Ashaddu" = stronger, as regards love to or for Allah, more Allah loving. But it can stand adverbially by itself = out of love for Allah, for Allah's sake.
[FN#75] Arab. "Zahr," lit. and generically a blossom; but often
used in a specific sense throughout The Nights.
[FN#76] Arab. "Kursi" here = a square wooden seat without back and used for sitting cross-legged. See Suppl. vol. i. 10.
[FN#77] Arab. "Sujjádah" = lit. a praying carpet, which Lane calls "Seggádeh."
[FN#78] Arab. "Wakíl," lit. = agent: here the woman's
representative, corresponding roughly with the man who gives away the bride amongst ourselves.
[FN#79] The mention of coffee and sherbet, here and in the next
page, makes the tale synchronous with that of Ma'arúf or the
xviith. century.
[FN#80] The MS. writes "Zardakát" for "Zardakhán": see below.
[FN#81] Scott (p. 36) has "mahazzim (for maházim), al Zerdukkaut
(for al-Zardakhán)" and "munnaskif (for manáshif) al fillfillee." Of the former he notes (p. 414) "What this composition is I cannot define: it may be translated compound of saffron, yoke of egg or of yellowish drugs." He evidently confounds it with the Pers. Zard-i-Kháyah = yoke of egg. Of the second he says "compound of peppers, red, white and black." Lane (The Nights, vol. i. p. 8) is somewhat scandalised at such misrepresentation, translating the first "apron-napkins of thick silk," and the second "drying towels of Líf or palm-fibre," further suggesting that the text may have dropped a conjunction = drying towels and fibre.
[FN#82] Arab. "Líwán al-barrání," lit. = the outer bench in the
"Maslakh" or apodyterium.
[FN#83] Arab. "Ma'jún," pop. applied to an electuary of Bhang
(Cannabis sativa): it is the "Maagoon" sold by the "Maagungee" of Lane (M.E. chapt. xv.). Here, however, the term may be used in the sense of "confections" generally, the sweetmeats eaten by way of restoratives in the Bath.
[FN#84] He speaks of taking her maidenhead as if it were porter's
work and so defloration was regarded by many ancient peoples. The
old Nilotes incised the hymen before congress; the Phœnicians,
according to Saint Athanasius, made a slave of the husband's
abate it. The American Chibchas and Caribs looked upon virginity
as a reproach, proving that the maiden had never inspired love.
For these and other examples see p. 72, chap. iii. "L'Amour dans
l'Humanité," by P. Mantegazza, a civilised and unprejudiced
traveller.
[FN#85] Arab. "Zill," lit. "shadow me."
[FN#86] Arab. "Istinshák," one of the items of the "Wuzú" or
lesser ablution: see vol. v. 198.
[FN#87] In Chavis her name is "Zaliza" and she had "conceived an
unhappy passion" for her master, to whom she "declared her
sentiments without reserve."
[FN#88] Arab. "Armaghánát," the Arab. plur. of "Armaghán,"
Pers.=a present.
[FN#89] In the text, "jumlatun min al-mál," which Scott
apparently reads "Hamlat al-jamal" and translates (p. 38) "a
camel's load of treasure."
[FN#90] The learned man was to exorcise some possible "evil
spirit" or "the eye," a superstition which seems to have begun,
like all others, with the ancient Egyptians.
[FN#91] The MS., I have said, always writes "Khwájá" instead of
"Khwájah" (plur. "Khwájat"): for this word, the modern Egyptian
"Howájah," see vol. vi. 46. Here it corresponds with our
"goodman."
[FN#92] Arab. "Yatazáwadú"=increasing.
[FN#93] By which she accepted the offer.
[FN#94] This incident has already occurred in the tale of the
Portress (Second Lady of Baghdad, vol. i. 179), but here the
consequences are not so tragical. In Chavis the vulgar cock
becomes "a golden Censer ornamented with diamonds, to be sold for
two thousand sequins" (each=9 shill.).
[FN#95] A royal sign of wrath generally denoting torture and
death. See vols. iv. 72; vi. 250.
[FN#96] Arab. "Yá Sallám," addressed to Allah.
[FN#97] Here more is meant than meets the eye. When a Moslem's
head was struck off, in the days of the Caliphate, it was placed
under his armpit, whereas that of a Jew or a Christian was set
between his legs, close to the seat of dishonour.
[FN#98] In Chavis and Cazotte the lady calls to "Morigen, her
first eunuch, and says, Cut off his head!" Then she takes a
theorbo and "composed the following couplets"?of which the first
may suffice:
Since my swain unfaithful proves,
Let him go to her he loves, etc., etc.
[FN#99] The device has already occurred in "Ali Baba."
[FN#100] Arab. "Al-ma'húd min ghayr wa'd."
[FN#101] In Chavis and Cazotte the king is Harun al-Rashid and
the masterful young person proves to be Zeraida, the favourite
daughter of Ja'afar Bermaki; whilst the go-between is not the
young lady's mother but Nemana, an old governess. The over-
jealous husband in the Second Lady of Baghdad (vol. i. 179) is
Al-Amín, son and heir of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid.
[FN#102] Vol. iii. pp. 168-179: and Scott's "Story of the Second
Lunatic," pp. 45-51. The name is absurdly given as the youth was
anything but a lunatic; but this is Arab symmetromania. The tale
is virtually the same as "Women's Wiles," in Supplemental Nights,
vol. ii. 99-107.
[FN#103] This forward movement on the part of the fair one is
held to be very insulting by the modest Moslem. This incident is
wanting in "Women's Wiles."
[FN#104] Arab. "Labbah," usually the part of the throat where
ornaments are hung or camels are stabbed.
[FN#105] The Chief of the Moslem Church. For the origin of the
office and its date (A.D. 1453) see vols. ix. 289, and x. 85.
[FN#106] Arab. "Satíhah" = a she-Satíh: this seer was a headless
and neckless body, with face in breast, lacking members and lying prostrate on the ground. His fellow, "Shikk," was a half-man, and both foretold the divine mission of Mohammed. (Ibn Khall. i. 487.)
[FN#107] Arab. "Wakt al-Zuhà;" the division of time between
sunrise and midday.
[FN#108] In the text "Sufrah" = the cloth: see vol. i. 178, etc.
[FN#109] Arab. "Ya Tinjír," lit. = O Kettle.
[FN#110] Arab. "Tari," lit. = wet, with its concomitant suggestion, soft and pleasant like desert-rain.
[FN#111] Here meaning "Haste, haste!" See vol. i. 46.
[FN#112] The chief man (Aghá) of the Gypsies, the Jink of Egypt
whom Turkish soldiers call Ghiovendé, a race of singers and
dancers; in fact professional Nautch-girls. See p. 222, "Account
of the Gypsies of India," by David MacRitchie (London, K. Paul,
1886), a most useful manual.
[FN#113] Arab. "Kurúsh," plur of. "Kirsh" (pron. "Girsh"), the
Egyptian piastre = one-fifth of a shilling. The word may derive
from a {root} Karsh = collecting money; but it is more probably a corruption of Groschen, primarily a great or thick piece of money and secondarily a small silver coin = 3 kreuzers = 1 penny.
[FN#114] The purse ("Kís") is = 500 piastres (kurúsh) = £5; and a thousand purses compose the Treasury ("Khaznah") = £5,000.
[FN#115] MS. vol. iii. pp. 179-303. It is Scott's "Story of the
Retired Sage and his Pupil, related to the Sultan by the Second
Lunatic," vi. pp. 52-67; and Gauttier's Histoire du Sage, vi.
199-2l4. The scene is laid in Cairo.
[FN#116] Meaning that he was an orphan and had, like the
well-known widow, "seen better days."
[FN#117] The phrase, I have noted, is not merely pleonastic: it
emphasises the assertion that it was a chance day.
[FN#118] An old Plinian fable long current throughout the East.
It is the Pers. Ním-chihreh, and the Arab Shikk and possibly
Nasnás = nisf al-Nás (?) See vol. v. 333. Shikk had received from Allah only half the form of a man, and his rival diviner Satíh was a shapeless man of flesh without limbs. They lived in the days of a woman named Tarífah, daughter of Al-Khayr al-Himyarí and wife of Amrú bin 'Ámir who was famous for having intercourse with the Jann. When about to die she sent for the two, on account of their deformity and the influence exercised upon them by the demons; and, having spat into their mouths, bequeathed to them her Jinni, after which she departed life and was buried at Al-Johfah. Presently they became noted soothsayers; Shikk had issue but Satih none; they lived 300 (some say 600) years, and both died shortly before the birth of the Prophet concerning whom they prophesied. When the Tobba of Al-Yaman dreamed that a dove flew from a holy place and settled in the Tihámah (lowland-seaboard) of Meccah, Satih interpreted it to signify that a Prophet would arise to destroy idols and to teach the best of faiths. The two also predicted (according to Tabari) to Al-Rabí'ah, son of Nasr, a Jewish king of Al-Yaman, that the Habash (Abyssinians) should conquer the country, govern it, and be expelled, and after this a Prophet should arise amongst the Arabs and bring a new religion which all should embrace and which should endure until Doomsday. Compare this with the divining damsel in Acts xvi. 16-18.
[FN#119] Arab. "Kahramánah;" the word has before been explained
as a nurse, a duenna, an Amazon guarding the Harem. According to
C. de Perceval (père) it was also the title given by the
Abbasides to the Governess of the Serraglio.
[FN#120] So in the Apocrypha ("Tobias" vi. 8). Tobit is taught by
the Archangel Raphael to drive away evil spirits (or devils) by
the smoke of a bit of fish's heart. The practice may date from
the earliest days when "Evil Spirits" were created by man. In
India, when Europeans deride the existence of Jinns and
Rakshasas, and declare that they never saw one, the people
receive this information with a smile which means only, "I should
think not! you and yours are worse than any of our devils."
[FN#121] An Inquisitorial costume called in the text "Shámiyát bi
al-Nár."
[FN#122] A tribe of the Jinn sometimes made synonymous with
"Márid" and at other times contrasted with these rebels, as in
the Story of Ma'aruf and J. Scott's "History of the Sultan of
Hind" (vol. vi. 195). For another note see The Nights, iv. 88.
[FN#123] Arab. "'Ilm al-Hurúf," not to be confounded with the
"'Ilm al-Jumal," or "Hisáb Al-Jumal," a notation by numerical
values of the alphabet. See Lumsden's Grammar of the Persian
Language, i. 37.
[FN#124] Like our "Cut your mutton," or manger la soupe or die
Suppe einzunehmen. For this formula meaning like the Brazilian
"cup of water," a grand feast, see vol. vii. 168.
[FN#125] Arab. "Tafazzal," a most useful word employed upon
almost all occasions of invitation and mostly equivalent to "Have
the kindness," etc. See vol. ii. 103.
[FN#126] The Shaykh for humility sits at the side, not at the
"Sadr," or top of the room; but he does not rise before the
temporal power. The Sultan is equally courteous and the Shaykh
honours him by not keeping silence.
[FN#127] Arab. "Miat Mamlúk kitábí," the latter word meaning "one
of the Book, a Jew" (especially), or a Christian.
[FN#128] This MS. prefers the rare form "Al-Jánn" for the
singular.
[FN#129] These flags, I have noticed, are an unfailing
accompaniment of a Jinn army.
[FN#130] MS. vol. iii. pp. 203-210; Scott, "Night Adventure of
the Sultan," pp. 68-71. Gauttier, Aventure nocturne du Sulthan,
vi. 214.
[FN#131] Arab. "Mashrút shadak." Ashdak is usually applied to a
wide-chapped face, like that of Margaret Maultasch or
Mickle-mouthed Meg. Here, however, it alludes to an accidental
deformity which will presently be described.
[FN#132] Arab. "Amsik lisána-k": the former word is a standing
"chaff" with the Turks, as in their tongue it means cunnus-penis
and nothing else. I ever found it advisable when speaking Arabic
before Osmanlis, to use some such equivalent as Khuz = take thou.
[FN#133] This is the familiar incident in "Ali Baba": Supplem.
vol iii. 384, etc.
[FN#134] MS. iii. 210-214. Scott's "Story of the broken-backed
Schoolmaster," vi. pp. 72-75, and Gauttier's "Histoire du Maître
d'école éreinté," vi. 217. The Arabic is "Muaddib al-Atfál" = one
who teacheth children. I have before noted that amongst Moslems
the Schoolmaster is always a fool. So in Europe of the 16th
century probably no less than one-third of the current jests
turned upon the Romish clergy and its phenomenal ignorance
compared with that of the pagan augur. The Story of the First
Schoolmaster is one of the most humorous in this MS.
[FN#135] For the usual ceremony when a Moslem sneezes, see vol.
ix. 220.
[FN#136] The "day in the country," lately become such a favourite
with English schools, is an old Eastern custom.
[FN#137] MS. iii. 214-219. Scott's "Story of the wry-mouthed
Schoolmaster," vi. pp. 74-75: Gauttier's Histoire du Second
Estropié, vi. p. 220.
[FN#138] In these days the whole would be about 10d.
[FN#139] Pay-day for the boys in Egypt. The Moslem school has
often been described but it always attracts the curiosity of
strangers. The Moorish or Maroccan variety is a simple affair;
"no forms, no desks, few books. A number of boards about the size
of foolscap, whitewashed on either side, whereon the
lessons?from the alphabet to sentences of the Koran?are plainly
written in large black letters; a pen and ink, a book and a
switch or two, complete the paraphernalia. The dominie, squatting
on the ground, tailor-fashion, like his pupils, who may number
from ten to thirty, repeats the lesson in a sonorous sing-song
voice, and is imitated by the urchins, who accompany their voices
by a rocking to and fro which sometimes enables them to keep
time. A sharp application of the cane is wonderfully effectual in
recalling wandering attention; and lazy boys are speedily
expelled. On the admission of a pupil, the parents pay some small
sum, varying according to their means, and every Wednesday, which
is a half-holiday, a payment is made from ¼d. to 2d. New moons
and feasts are made occasions for larger payments, and are also
holidays, which last ten days during the two greater festivals.
Thursdays are whole holidays, and no work is done on Friday
mornings, that day being the Mohammedan 'Sabbath,' or at least
'meeting day,' as it is called. When the pupils have mastered the
first short chapter of the Koran, it is customary for them to be
paraded round the town on horseback, with ear-splitting music,
and sometimes charitably disposed persons make small presents to
the youngster by way of encouragement. After the first, the last
is learned, then the last but one, and so on, backwards, as, with
the exception of the first, the longest chapters are at the
beginning. Though reading and a little writing are taught, at the
same time, all the scholars do not arrive at the pitch of
perfection necessary to indite a polite letter, so that
consequently there is plenty of employment for the numerous
scribes or Tálibs who make a profession of writing. These may
frequently be seen in small rooms opening on to the street,
usually very respectably dressed in a white flowing haik and
large turban, and in most cases of venerable appearance, their
noses being adorned with huge goggles. Before them are their
appliances,?pens made of reeds, ink, paper, and sand in lieu of
blotting paper. They usually possess also a knife and scissors,
with a case to hold them all. In writing, they place the paper on
the knee, or upon a pad of paper in the left hand." The main
merit of the village school in Eastern lands is its noises which
teach the boy to concentrate his attention. As Dr. Wilson of
Bombay said, the young idea is taught to shout as well as to
shoot, and this vivâ voce process is a far better mnemonic than
silent reading. Moreover it is fine practice in the art of
concentrating attention.
[FN#140] Arab. "Mikshat," whose root would be "Kasht" = skinning (a camel).
[FN#141] Evidently said ironicè as of innocents. In "The Forty
Vezirs" we read, "At length they perceived that all this tumult
arose from their trusting on this wise the words of children."
(Lady's XXth Tale.)
[FN#142] MS. iii. 219-220. For some unaccountable reason it is
omitted by Scott (vi. 76), who has written English words in the margin of the W. M. Codex.
[FN#143] In text "Kádúm," for "Kudúm," a Syrian form.
[FN#144] Arab. "Hidyah," which in Egypt means a falcon; see vol.
iii. 138.
[FN#145] Arab. "Sifah," = lit. a quality.
[FN#146] Arab. "Istiláh" = specific dialect, idiom. See De Sacy,
Chrestomathie, i. 443, where the learned Frenchman shows abundant
learning, but does very little for the learner.
[FN#147] In the text "Kattán" = linen, flax.
[FN#148] Arab. "Fí Jífán ka'l-Jawábí!" which, I suppose, means
small things (or men) and great.
[FN#149] This form of cleverness is a favourite topic in Arabian
folk-lore. The model man was Iyás al-Muzani, al-Kazi (of
Bassorah), in the 2nd century A.H., mentioned by Al-Harírí in his
7th Ass. and noted in Arab. Prov. (i. 593) as "more intelligent
than Iyás." Ibn Khallikan (i. 233) tells sundry curious tales of
him. Hearing a Jew ridicule the Moslem Paradise where the blessed
ate and drank ad libitum but passed nothing away, he asked if all
his food were voided: the Jew replied that God converted a part
of it into nourishment and he rejoined, "Then why not the whole?"
Being once in a courtyard he said that there was an animal under
the bricks and a serpent was found: he had noted that only two of
the tiles showed signs of dampness and this proved that there was
something underneath that breathed. Al-Maydáni relates of him
that hearing a dog bark, he declared that the beast was tied to
the brink of a well; and he judged so because the bark was
followed by an echo. Two men came before him, the complainant
claimed money received by the defendant who denied the debt. Iyás
asked the plaintiff where he had given it, and was answered,
"Under a certain tree." The judge told him to go there by way of
refreshing his memory and in his absence asked the defendant if
his adversary could have reached it. "Not yet," said the rogue,
forgetting himself; "'tis a long way off"?which answer convicted
him. Seeing three women act upon a sudden alarm, he said, "One of
them is pregnant, another is nursing, and the third is a virgin."
He explained his diagnosis as follows: "In time of danger persons
lay their hands on what they most prize. Now I saw the pregnant
woman in her flight place her hand on her belly, which showed me
she was with child; the nurse placed her hand on her bosom,
whereby I knew that she was suckling, and the third covered her
parts with her hand proving to me that she was a maid."
(Chenery's Al Hariri, p. 334.)
[FN#150] Such an address would be suited only to a King or a
ruler.
[FN#151] MS. iii. 231-240; Scott's "Story of the Sisters and the
Sultana their mother," vi. 82; Gauttier's Histoire de la Sulthane
et de ses trois Filles, vi. 228.
[FN#152] Arab, "Darajatáni"=lit. two astronomical degrees: the
word is often used in this MS.
[FN#153] Arab. "Síwan;" plur. "Síwáwín."
[FN#154] Arab. "'Alà hudúd (or Alà hadd) al-Shauk," repeated in
MS. iii. 239.
[FN#155] Here the writer, forgetting that the youngest sister is
speaking, breaks out into the third person?"their case"?"their
mother," etc.
[FN#156] The idea is that of the French anonyma's "Mais,
Monsieur, vous me suivez comme un lavement."
[FN#157] The text (p. 243) speaks of two eunuchs, but only one
has been noticed.
[FN#158] Arab. "Manjaník;" there are two forms of this word from the Gr. ????a???, or ???a??, and it survives in our mangonel, a battering engine. The idea in the text is borrowed from the life of Abraham whom Nimrod cast by means of a catapult (which is a bow worked by machinery) into a fire too hot for man to approach.
[FN#159] Showing that he was older; otherwise she would have
addressed him, "O my cousin." A man is "young," in Arab speech,
till forty and some say fifty.
[FN#160] The little precatory formula would keep off the Evil
Eye.
[FN#161] Supper comes first because the day begins at sundown.
[FN#162] Calotte or skull-cap; vol. i. 224; viii. 120.
[FN#163] This is a new "fact" in physics and certainly to be
counted amongst "things not generally known." But Easterns have a
host of "dodges" to detect physiological differences such as
between man and maid, virgin and matron, imperfect castratos and
perfect eunuchs and so forth. Very Eastern, mutatis mutandis, is
the tale of the thief-catcher, who discovered a fellow in
feminine attire by throwing an object for him to catch in his lap
and by his closing his legs instead of opening them wide as the
petticoated ones would do.
[FN#164] She did not wish to part with her maidenhead at so cheap
a price.
[FN#165] Arab. "Subú'" (for "Yaum al-Subú'") a festival prepared
on the seventh day after a birth or a marriage or return from
pilgrimage. See Lane (M. E. passim) under "Subooa."
[FN#166] For this Anglo-Indian term, = a running courier, see vol. vii. 340. It is the gist of the venerable Joe Miller in which the father asks a friend to name his seven-months child. "Call him 'Cossid' for verily he hath accomplished a march of nine months in seven months."
[FN#167] Arab. "Madáfi al-Salámah," a custom showing the date of
the tale to be more modern than any in the ten vols. of The
Nights proper.
[FN#168] Master, captain, skipper (not owner): see vols. i. 127;
vi. 112.
[FN#169] Zahr al-Bahr = the surface which affords a passage to man.
[FN#170] Arab. "Batiyah," gen. = a black jack, a leathern flagon.
[FN#171] "Kunáfah" = a vermicelli cake often eaten at breakfast:
see vol. x. 1: "Kunafáni" is the baker or confectioner. Scott (p.
101) converts the latter into a "maker of cotton wallets for
travelling."
[FN#172] In the text (iii. 260) "Mídí," a clerical error for
"Mayyidí," an abbreviation of "Muayyadí," the Faddah, Nuss or
half-dirham coined under Sultan al-Muayyad, A.H. ixth cent. = A.D. xvth.
[FN#173] Arab. "Rub'" (plur. "Arbá'") = the fourth of a "Waybah,"
the latter being the sixth of an Ardabb (Irdabb) = 5 bushels. See
vol. i. 263.
[FN#174] A royal pavilion; according to Shakespear (Hind. Dict.
sub voce) it is a corruption of the Pers. "Sayabán."=canopy.
[FN#175] Arab. "Musajja'" = rhymed prose: for the Saj'a, see vol.
i. 116, and Terminal Essay, vol. x. p. 220. So Chaucer:?
In rhyme or ellès in cadence.
[FN#176] Arab. "Huwa inná na'rifu-h" lit. = He, verily we wot him
not: the juxtaposition of the two first pronouns is intended to
suggest "I am he."
[FN#177] In Moslem tales decency compels the maiden, however much
she may be in love, to show extreme unwillingness in parting with
her maidenhead especially by marriage; and this farce is enacted
in real life (see vol. viii. 40). The French tell the indecent
truth,
Désir de fille est un feu qui dévore:
Désir de femme est plus fort encore.
[FN#178] The Arab. form (our old "bashaw") of the Turk. "Pasha,"
which the French and many English write Pacha, thus confusing the
vulgar who called Ibrahim Pacha "Abraham Parker." The origin of
the word is much debated and the most fanciful derivations have
been proposed. Some have taken it from the Sansk. "Paksha" = a
wing: Fuerst from Pers. Páigáh = rank, dignity; Von Hammer
(History) from Pái-Sháh = foot of the king; many from "Pádisháh" = the Sovran, and Mr. E. T. W. Gibb suspects a connection with the Turk. "Básh" = a head. He writes to me that the oldest forms are "Bashah" and "Báshah"; and takes the following quotation from Colonel Jevád Bey, author of an excellent work on the Janissaries published a few years ago. "As it was the custom of the (ancient) Turks to call the eldest son 'Páshá,' the same style was given to his son Alà al-Din (Aladdín) by Osmán Gházi, the founder of the Empire; and he kept this heir at home and beside him, whilst he employed the cadet Orkhan Bey as his commander-in-chief. When Orkhán Gházi ascended the throne he conferred the title of Páshá upon his son Sulayman. Presently reigned Murád (Amurath), who spying signs of disaffection in his first-born Sáwújí Bey about the middle of his reign created Kárá Khalíl (his Kází-Askar or High Chancellor) Wazir with the title Kazyr al-Dín Pasha; thus making him, as it were, an adopted son. After this the word passed into the category of official titles and came to be conferred upon those who received high office." Colonel Jevád Bey then quotes in support of his opinion the "History of Munajjim Pasha" and the "Fatáyah al-Wukú'at" = Victories of Events. I may note that the old title has been sadly prostituted in Egypt as well as in Turkey: in 1851 Páshás could be numbered on a man's fingers; now they are innumerable and of no account.
[FN#179] Arab. "'Alà bábi 'lláh" = for the love of the Lord,
gratis, etc., a most popular phrase.
[FN#180] Arab. "Bahár," often used for hot spices generally.
[FN#181] In the text Shajarat Ríh.
[FN#182] Arab. "Ma'ádin" = minerals, here mentioned for the first
time.
[FN#183] For the ear conceiving love before the eye (the basis of
half these love-stories), see vol. iii. 9.
[FN#184] According to Dr. Steingass "Mirwad" = the iron axle of a
pulley or a wheel for drawing water or lifting loads, hence
possibly a bar of metal, an ingot. But he is more inclined to
take it in its usual sense of "Kohl-pencil." Here "Mirwád" is the
broader form like "Miftáh" for "Miftah," much used in Syria.
[FN#185] For the Ashrafi, a gold coin of variable value, see vol.
iii. 294. It is still coined; the Calcutta Ashrafi worth £1 11s.
8d. is 1/16th (about 5s. to the oz.) better than the English
standard, and the Regulations of May, 1793, made it weigh 190.894
grs. Troy.
[FN#186] In text "Anjar" = a flat platter; Pers.
[FN#187] By what physical process the author modestly leaves to
the reader's imagination. Easterns do not often notice this
feminine venereal paroxysm which takes the place of seminal
emission in the male. I have seen it happen to a girl when
hanging by the arms a trifle too long from a gymnastic cross-bar;
and I need hardly say that at such moments (if men only knew
them) every woman, even the most modest, is an easy conquest. She
will repent it when too late, but the flesh has been too strong
for her.
[FN#188] A neat and suggestive touch of Eastern manners and
morals.
[FN#189] In text "Ghayr Wa'd," or "Min ghayr Wa'd." Lit. without
previous agreement: much used in this text for suddenly,
unexpectedly, without design.
[FN#190] The reader will have remarked the use of the Arabic
"'Alaka" = he hung, which with its branches greatly resembles the
Lat. pendere.
[FN#191] Arab. "Min al-Malábis," plur. of "Malbas" = anything
pleasant or enjoyable; as the plural of "Milbas" = dress, garment, it cannot here apply.
[FN#192] i.e. "The Tigris" (Hid-dekel), with which the Egyptian
writer seems to be imperfectly acquainted. See vols. i. 180;
viii. 150.
[FN#193] The word, as usual misapplied in the West, is to be
traced through the Turk. Kúshk (pron. Kyúshk) to the Pers.
"Kushk" = an upper chamber.
[FN#194] Four including the doorkeeper. The Darwayshes were
suspected of kidnapping, a practice common in the East,
especially with holy men. I have noticed in my Pilgrimage (vols.
ii. 273; iii. 327), that both at Meccah and at Al-Medinah the
cheeks of babes are decorated with the locally called "Masháli" = three parallel gashes drawn by the barber with the razor down the fleshy portion of each cheek, from the exterior angles of the eyes almost to the corners of the mouth. According to the citizens this "Tashrít" is a modern practice distinctly opposed to the doctrine of Al-Islam; but, like the tattooing of girls, it is intended to save the children from being carried off, for good luck, by kidnapping pilgrims, especially Persians.