Footnote 131:
p. 97.—_Of_ PARVIZ.
Chosroes. For the description of his Throne or Palace, see _Gibbon_
and _D’Herbelot._
There were said to be under this Throne or Palace of Khosrou Parviz a
hundred vaults filled with “treasures so immense that some Mahometan
writers tell us, their Prophet, to encourage his disciples, carried
them to a rock, which at his command opened, and gave them a prospect
through it of the treasures of Khosrou.”—_Universal History._
Footnote 132:
p. 97.—_And the heron crest that shone._
“The crown of Gerashid is cloudy and tarnished before the heron tuft
of thy turban.”—From one of the elegies or songs in praise of Ali,
written in characters of gold round the gallery of Abbas’s tomb.—See
_Chardin_.
Footnote 133:
p. 97.—_Magnificent, o’er_ ALI’S _beauteous eyes._
The beauty of Ali’s eyes was so remarkable, that whenever the Persians
would describe any thing as very lovely, they say it is Ayn Hali, or
the Eyes of Ali.—_Chardin._
Footnote 134:
p. 98.—_Rise from the Holy Well, and cast its light._
We are not told more of this trick of the Impostor, than that it was
“une machine, qu’il disoit être la Lune.” According to Richardson, the
miracle is perpetuated in Nekscheb.—“Nakshab, the name of a city in
Transoxiana, where they say there is a well, in which the appearance
of the moon is to be seen night and day.”
Footnote 135:
p. 98.—_Round the rich city and the plain for miles._
“Il amusa pendant deux mois le peuple de la ville de Nekhscheb, en
faisant sortir toutes les nuits du fond d’un puits un corps lumineux
semblable à la Lune, qui portoit sa lumière jusqu’à la distance de
plusieurs milles.”—_D’Herbelot._ Hence he was called Sazendéhmah, or
the Moon-maker.
Footnote 136:
p. 99.—_Had rested on the Ark._
The Shechinah, called Sakînat in the Koran.—See _Sale’s Note_, chap.
ii.
Footnote 137:
p. 99.—_Of the small drum with which they count the night._
The parts of the night are made known as well by instruments of music,
as by the rounds of the watchmen with cries and small drums.—See
_Burder’s Oriental Customs_, vol. i. p. 119.
Footnote 138:
p. 99.—_On for the lamps, that light yon lofty screen._
The Serrapurda, high screens of red cloth, stiffened with cane, used
to enclose a considerable space round the royal tents.—_Notes on the
Bahardanush._
The tents of Princes were generally illuminated. Norden tells us that
the tent of the Bey of Girge was distinguished from the other tents by
forty lanterns being suspended before it.—See _Harmer’s Observations
on Job_.
Footnote 139:
p. 100.—_Pour to the spot, like bees of_ KAUZEROON.
“From the groves of orange trees at Kauzeroon the bees cull a
celebrated honey.”—_Morier_’s Travels.
Footnote 140:
p. 102.—_Of nuptial pomp, she sinks into his tide._
“A custom still subsisting at this day, seems to me to prove that the
Egyptians formerly sacrificed a young virgin to the God of the Nile;
for they now make a statue of earth in shape of a girl, to which they
give the name of the Betrothed Bride, and throw it into the
river.”—_Savary._
Footnote 141:
p. 103.—_Engines of havoc in, unknown before._
That they knew the secret of the Greek fire among the Mussulmans early
in the eleventh century, appears from _Dow_’s Account of Mamood I.
“When he arrived at Moultan, finding that the country of the Jits was
defended by great rivers, he ordered fifteen hundred boats to be
built, each of which he armed with six iron spikes, projecting from
their prows and sides, to prevent their being boarded by the enemy,
who were very expert in that kind of war. When he had launched this
fleet, he ordered twenty archers into each boat, and five others with
fire-balls, to burn the craft of the Jits, and naphtha to set the
whole river on fire.”
The _agnee aster_, too, in Indian poems the Instrument of fire, whose
flame cannot be extinguished, is supposed to signify the Greek
Fire.—See _Wilks_’s South of India, vol. i. p. 471.—And in the curious
Javan Poem, the _Brata Yudha_, given by _Sir Stamford Raffles_ in his
History of Java, we find, “He aimed at the heart of Soéta with the
sharp-pointed Weapon of Fire.”
The mention of gunpowder as in use among the Arabians, long before its
supposed discovery in Europe, is introduced by _Ebn Fadhl_, the
Egyptian geographer, who lived in the thirteenth century. “Bodies,” he
says, “in the form of scorpions, bound round and filled with nitrous
powder, glide along, making a gentle noise; then, exploding, they
lighten, as it were, and burn. But there are others which, cast into
the air, stretch along like a cloud, roaring horribly, as thunder
roars, and on all sides vomiting out flames, burst, burn, and reduce
to cinders whatever comes in their way.” The historian _Ben Abdalla_,
in speaking of the sieges of Abulualid in the year of the Hegira 712,
says, “A fiery globe, by means of combustible matter, with a mighty
noise suddenly emitted, strikes with the force of lightning, and
shakes the citadel.”—See the Extracts from _Casiri_’s Biblioth. Arab.
Hispan. in the Appendix to _Berington_’s Literary History of the
Middle Ages.
Footnote 142:
p. 103.—_And horrible as new;—javelins that fly._
The Greek fire, which was occasionally lent by the emperors to their
allies. “It was,” says Gibbon, “either launched in red hot balls of
stone and iron, or darted in arrows or javelins, twisted round with
flax and tow, which had deeply imbibed the inflammable oil.”
Footnote 143:
p. 103.—_Discharge, as from a kindled Naphtha fount._
See _Hanway_’s Account of the Springs of Naphtha at Baku (which is
called by _Lieutenant Pottinger_ Joala Mokee, or, the Flaming Mouth)
taking fire and running into the sea. _Dr. Cooke_, in his Journal,
mentions some wells in Circassia, strongly impregnated with this
inflammable oil, from which issues boiling water. “Though the
weather,” he adds, “was now very cold, the warmth of these wells of
hot water produced near them the verdure and flowers of spring.”
_Major Scott Waring_ says, that naphtha is used by the Persians, as we
are told it was in hell, for lamps.
... many a row
Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed
With naphtha and asphaltus, yielding light
As from a sky.
Footnote 144:
p. 104.—_Like those wild birds that by the Magians oft._
“At the great festival of fire, called the Sheb Sezê, they used to set
fire to large bunches of dry combustibles, fastened round wild beasts
and birds, which being then let loose, the air and earth appeared one
great illumination; and as these terrified creatures naturally fled to
the woods for shelter, it is easy to conceive the conflagrations they
produced.”—_Richardson_’s Dissertation.
Footnote 145:
p. 106.—_Keep, seal’d with precious musk, for those they love._
“The righteous shall be given to drink of pure wine, sealed; the seal
whereof shall be musk.”—_Koran_, chap. lxxxiii.
Footnote 146:
p. 110.—_On its own brood;—no Demon of the Waste._
“The Afghauns believe each of the numerous solitudes and deserts of
their country to be inhabited by a lonely demon, whom they call the
Ghoolee Beeabau, or Spirit of the Waste. They often illustrate the
wildness of any sequestered tribe, by saying, they are wild as the
Demon of the Waste.”—_Elphinstone_’s Caubul.
Footnote 147:
p. 111.—_With burning drugs, for this last hour distill’d._
“Il donna du poison dans le vin à tous ses gens, et se jetta lui-même
ensuite dans une cuve pleine de drogues brûlantes et consumantes, afin
qu’il ne restât rien de tous les membres de son corps, et que ceux qui
restoient de sa secte puissent croire qu’il étoit monté au ciel, ce
qui ne manqua pas d’arriver.”—_D’Herbelot._
Footnote 148:
p. 113.—_In the lone Cities of the Silent dwell._
“They have all a great reverence for burial-grounds, which they
sometimes call by the poetical name of Cities of the Silent, and which
they people with the ghosts of the departed, who sit each at the head
of his own grave, invisible to mortal eyes.”—_Elphinstone._
Footnote 149:
p. 120.—_And to eat any mangoes but those of Mazagong was, of course,
impossible._—“The celebrity of Mazagong is owing to its mangoes, which
are certainly the best fruit I ever tasted. The parent-tree, from
which all those of this species have been grafted, is honoured during
the fruit-season by a guard of sepoys; and, in the reign of Shah
Jehan, couriers were stationed between Delhi and the Mahratta coast to
secure an abundant and fresh supply of mangoes for the royal
table.”—_Mrs. Graham_’s Journal of a Residence in India.
Footnote 150:
p. 120.—_Laden with his fine antique porcelain._—This old porcelain is
found in digging, and “if it is esteemed, it is not because it has
acquired any new degree of beauty in the earth, but because it has
retained its ancient beauty; and this alone is of great importance in
China, where they give large sums for the smallest vessels which were
used under the Emperors Yan and Chun, who reigned many ages before the
dynasty of Tang, at which time porcelain began to be used by the
Emperors” (about the year 442).—_Dunn_’s Collection of curious
Observations, &c.;—a bad translation of some parts of the Lettres
Edifiantes et Curieuses of the Missionary Jesuits.
Footnote 151:
p. 122.—_And if Nasser, the Arabian merchant, told no better._—“La
lecture de ces Fables plaisoit si fort aux Arabes, que, quand Mahomet
les entretenoit de l’Histoire de l’Ancien Testament, ils les
méprisoient, lui disant que celles que Nasser leur racontoit étoient
beaucoup plus belles. Cette préférence attira à Nasser la malédiction
de Mahomet et de tous ses disciples.”—_D’Herbelot._
Footnote 152:
p. 122.—_Like the blacksmith’s apron converted into a banner._—The
blacksmith Gao, who successfully resisted the tyrant Zohak, and whose
apron became the Royal Standard of Persia.
Footnote 153:
p. 125.—_That sublime bird, which flies always in the air, and never
touches the earth._—“The Huma, a bird peculiar to the East. It is
supposed to fly constantly in the air, and never touch the ground: it
is looked upon as a bird of happy omen; and that every head it
overshades will in time wear a crown.”—_Richardson._
In the terms of alliance made by Fuzzel Oola Khan with Hyder in 1760,
one of the stipulations was, “that he should have the distinction of
two honorary attendants standing behind him, holding fans composed of
the feathers of the Humma, according to the practice of his
family.”—_Wilk_’s South of India. He adds in a note:—“The Humma is a
fabulous bird. The head over which its shadow once passes will
assuredly be circled with a crown. The splendid little bird suspended
over the throne of Tippoo Sultaun, found at Seringapatam in 1799, was
intended to represent this poetical fancy.”
Footnote 154:
p. 125.—_Like those on the Written Mountain, last for ever._—“To the
pilgrims to Mount Sinai we must attribute the inscriptions, figures,
&c. on those rocks, which have from thence acquired the name of the
Written Mountain.”—_Volney._ M. Gebelin and others have been at much
pains to attach some mysterious and important meaning to these
inscriptions; but Niebuhr, as well as Volney, thinks that they must
have been executed at idle hours by the travellers to Mount Sinai,
“who were satisfied with cutting the unpolished rock with any pointed
instrument; adding to their names and the date of their journeys some
rude figures which bespeak the hand of a people but little skilled in
the arts.”—_Niebuhr._
Footnote 155:
p. 125.—_Like the old Man of the Sea, upon his back._—The Story of
Sinbad.
Footnote 156:
p. 126.—_To which Hafez compares his mistress’s hair._—See _Nott_’s
Hafez, Ode v.
Footnote 157:
p. 126.—_To the Cámalatá, by whose rosy blossoms the heaven of Indra
is scented._—“The Cámalatá (called by Linnæus, Ipomæa) is the most
beautiful of its order, both in the colour and form of its leaves and
flowers; its elegant blossoms are ‘celestial rosy red, Love’s proper
hue,’ and have justly procured it the name of Cámalatá, or Love’s
Creeper.”—_Sir W. Jones._
“Cámalatá may also mean a mythological plant, by which all desires are
granted to such as inhabit the heaven of Indra; and if ever flower was
worthy of paradise, it is our charming Ipomæa”—_Sir W. Jones._
Footnote 158:
p. 126.—_That flower-loving Nymph whom they worship in the temples of
Kathay._—“According to Father Premare, in his tract on Chinese
Mythology, the mother of Fo-hi was the daughter of heaven, surnamed
Flower-loving; and as the nymph was walking alone on the bank of a
river, she found herself encircled by a rainbow, after which she
became pregnant, and, at the end of twelve years, was delivered of a
son radiant as herself.”—_Asiat. Res._
Footnote 159:
p. 130.—_With its plane-tree Isle reflected clear._
“Numerous small islands emerge from the Lake of Cashmere. One is
called Char Chenaur, from the plane-trees upon it.”—_Foster._
Footnote 160:
p. 130.—_And the golden floods that thitherward stray._
“The Altan Kol or Golden River of Tibet, which runs into the Lakes of
Sing-su-hay, has abundance of gold in its sands, which employs the
inhabitants all the summer in gathering it.”—_Description of Tibet in
Pinkerton._
Footnote 161:
p. 131.—_Blooms nowhere but in Paradise._
“The Brahmins of this province insist that the blue campac flowers
only in Paradise.”—_Sir W. Jones._ It appears, however, from a curious
letter of the sultan of Menangcabow, given by Marsden, that one place
on earth may lay claim to the possession of it. “This is the Sultan,
who keeps the flower champaka that is blue, and to be found in no
other country but his, being yellow elsewhere.”—_Marsden_’s Sumatra.
Footnote 162:
p. 131.—_Flung at night from angel hands._
“The Mahometans suppose that falling stars are the firebrands
wherewith the good angels drive away the bad, when they approach too
near the empyrean or verge of the heavens.”—_Fryer._
Footnote 163:
p. 132.—_Beneath the pillars of_ CHILMINAR.
The Forty Pillars; so the Persians call the ruins of Persepolis. It is
imagined by them that this palace and the edifices at Balbec were
built by Genii, for the purpose of hiding in their subterraneous
caverns immense treasures, which still remain there.—See _D’Herbelot_
and _Volney._
Footnote 164:
p. 132.—_To the south of sun-bright Araby._—The Isles of Panchaia.
_Diodorus_ mentions the Isle of Panchaia, to the south of Arabia
Felix, where there was a temple of Jupiter. This island, or rather
cluster of isles, has disappeared, “sunk (says _Grandpré_) in the
abyss made by the fire beneath their foundations.”—_Voyage to the
Indian Ocean._
Footnote 165:
p. 132.—_The jewell’d cup of their King Jamshid._
“The cup of Jamshid, discovered, they say, when digging for the
foundations of Persepolis.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 166:
p. 132.—_O’er coral rocks, and amber beds._
“It is not like the Sea of India, whose bottom is rich with pearls and
ambergris, whose mountains of the coast are stored with gold and
precious stones, whose gulfs breed creatures that yield ivory, and
among the plants of whose shores are ebony, red wood, and the wood of
Hairzan, aloes, camphor, cloves, sandal-wood, and all other spices and
aromatics: where parrots and peacocks are birds of the forest, and
musk and civet are collected upon the lands.”—_Travels of Two
Mohammedans._
Footnote 167:
p. 133.—_Thy Pagods and thy pillar’d shades._
... “in the ground
The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
About the mother-tree, _a pillar’d shade_,
High over-arch’d, and echoing walks between.”—MILTON.
For a particular description and plate of the Banyan-tree, see
_Cordiner_’s Ceylon.
Footnote 168:
p. 133.—_Thy Monarchs and their thousand Thrones._
“With this immense treasure Mamood returned to Ghizni, and in the year
400 prepared a magnificent festival, where he displayed to the people
his wealth in golden thrones and in other ornaments, in a great plain
without the city of Ghizni.”—_Ferishta._
Footnote 169:
p. 133.—_’Tis He of Gazna—fierce in wrath._
“Mahmood of Gazna, or Ghizni, who conquered India in the beginning of
the 11th century.”—See his History in _Dow_ and _Sir J. Malcolm_.
Footnote 170:
p. 133.—_Of many a young and lov’d Sultana._
“It is reported that the hunting equipage of the Sultan Mahmood was so
magnificent, that he kept 400 greyhounds and bloodhounds, each of
which wore a collar set with jewels, and a covering edged with gold
and pearls.”—_Universal History_, vol. iii.
Footnote 171:
p. 134.—_For Liberty shed, so holy is._
Objections may be made to my use of the word Liberty in this, and more
especially in the story that follows it, as totally inapplicable to
any state of things that has ever existed in the East; but though I
cannot, of course, mean to employ it in that enlarged and noble sense
which is so well understood at the present day, and, I grieve to say,
so little acted upon, yet it is no disparagement to the word to apply
it to that national independence, that freedom from the interference
and dictation of foreigners, without which, indeed, no liberty of any
kind can exist; and for which both Hindoos and Persians fought against
their Mussulman invaders with, in many cases, a bravery that deserved
much better success.
Footnote 172:
p. 136.—_Now among_ AFRIC’S _lunar Mountains._
“The Mountains of the Moon, or the Montes Lunæ of antiquity, at the
foot of which the Nile is supposed to rise.”—_Bruce._
“Sometimes called,” says _Jackson_, “Jibbel Kumrie, or the white or
lunar-coloured mountains; so a white horse is called by the Arabians a
moon-coloured horse.”
Footnote 173:
p. 136.—_And hail the new-born Giant’s smile._
“The Nile, which the Abyssinians know by the names of Abey and Alawy,
or the Giant.”—_Asiat. Research._ vol. i. p. 387.
Footnote 174:
p. 136.—_Her grots, and sepulchres of Kings._
See Perry’s View of the Levant for an account of the sepulchres in
Upper Thebes, and the numberless grots, covered all over with
hieroglyphics in the mountains of Upper Egypt.
Footnote 175:
p. 136.—_In warm_ ROSETTA’S _vale—now loves._
“The orchards of Rosetta are filled with turtle-doves.”—_Sonnini._
Footnote 176:
p. 136.—_The azure calm of_ MŒRIS’ _Lake._
Savary mentions the pelicans upon Lake Mœris.
Footnote 177:
p. 137.—_Warns them to their silken beds._
“The superb date-tree, whose head languidly reclines, like that of a
handsome woman overcome with sleep.”—_Dafard el Hadad._
Footnote 178:
p. 137.—_Some purple-wing’d Sultana sitting._
“That beautiful bird, with plumage of the finest shining blue, with
purple beak and legs, the natural and living ornament of the temples
and palaces of the Greeks and Romans, which, from the stateliness of
its port, as well as the brilliancy of its colours, has obtained the
title of Sultana.”—_Sonnini._
Footnote 179:
p. 138.—_Only the fierce hyæna stalks._
Jackson, speaking of the plague that occurred in West Barbary, when he
was there, says, “The birds of the air fled away from the abodes of
men. The hyænas, on the contrary, visited the cemeteries,” &c.
Footnote 180:
p. 138.—_Throughout the city’s desolate walks._
“Gondar was full of hyænas from the time it turned dark till the dawn
of day, seeking the different pieces of slaughtered carcasses, which
this cruel and unclean people expose in the streets without burial,
and who firmly believe that these animals are Falashta from the
neighbouring mountains, transformed by magic, and come down to eat
human flesh in the dark in safety.”—_Bruce._
Footnote 181:
p. 138.—_The glaring of those large blue eyes._—Bruce.
Footnote 182:
p. 140.—_But see—who yonder comes by stealth._
This circumstance has been often introduced into poetry;—by Vincentius
Fabricius, by Darwin, and lately, with very powerful effect, by Mr.
Wilson.
Footnote 183:
p. 142.—_Who sings at the last his own death-lay._
“In the East, they suppose the Phœnix to have fifty orifices in his
bill, which are continued to his tail; and that, after living one
thousand years, he builds himself a funeral pile, sings a melodious
air of different harmonies through his fifty organ pipes, flaps his
wings with a velocity which sets fire to the wood, and consumes
himself.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 184:
p. 144.—_Their first sweet draught of glory take._
“On the shores of a quadrangular lake stand a thousand goblets, made
of stars, out of which souls predestined to enjoy felicity drink the
crystal wave.”—From _Châteaubriand_’s Description of the Mahometan
Paradise, in his _Beauties of Christianity_.
Footnote 185:
p. 145.—_Now, upon_ SYRIA’S _land of roses._
Richardson thinks that Syria had its name from Suri, a beautiful and
delicate species of rose, for which that country has been always
famous;—hence, Suristan, the Land of Roses.
Footnote 186:
p. 145.—_Gay lizards, glittering on the walls._
“The number of lizards I saw one day in the great court of the Temple
of the Sun at Balbec amounted to many thousands; the ground, the
walls, and stones of the ruined buildings, were covered with
them.”—_Bruce._
Footnote 187:
p. 146.—_Of shepherd’s ancient reed._
“The Syrinx, or Pan’s pipe, is still a pastoral instrument in
Syria.”—_Russel._
Footnote 188:
p. 146.—_Of the wild bees of_ PALESTINE.
“Wild bees, frequent in Palestine, in hollow trunks or branches of
trees, and the clefts of rocks. Thus it is said (Psalm lxxxi.),
‘_honey out of the stony rock_.’”—_Burder_’s Oriental Customs.
Footnote 189:
p. 146.—_And woods, so full of nightingales._
“The river Jordan is on both sides beset with little, thick, and
pleasant woods, among which thousands of nightingales warble all
together.”—_Thevenot._
Footnote 190:
p. 146.—_On that great Temple, once his own._
The Temple of the Sun at Balbec.
Footnote 191:
p. 147.—_The beautiful blue damsel flies._
“You behold there a considerable number of a remarkable species of
beautiful insects, the elegance of whose appearance and their attire
procured for them the name of Damsels.”—_Sonnini._
Footnote 192:
p. 147.—_Of a small imaret’s rustic fount._
Imaret, “hospice où on loge et nourrit, gratis, les pélerins pendant
trois jours.”—_Toderini, translated by the Abbé de Cournand._—See also
_Castellan_’s Mœurs des Othomans, tom. v. p. 145.
Footnote 193:
p. 149.—_Kneels, with his forehead to the south._
“Such Turks, as at the common hours of prayer are on the road, or so
employed as not to find convenience to attend the mosques, are still
obliged to execute that duty; nor are they ever known to fail,
whatever business they are then about, but pray immediately when the
hour alarms them, whatever they are about, in that very place they
chance to stand on; insomuch that when a janissary, whom you have to
guard you up and down the city, hears the notice which is given him
from the steeples, he will turn about, stand still, and beckon with
his hand, to tell his charge he must have patience for awhile; when,
taking out his handkerchief, he spreads it on the ground, sits
cross-legged thereupon, and says his prayers, though in the open
market, which, having ended, he leaps briskly up, salutes the person
whom he undertook to convey, and renews his journey with the mild
expression of _Ghell gohnnum ghell_, or, Come, dear, follow
me.”—_Aaron Hill_’s Travels.
Footnote 194:
p. 151.—_Upon_ EGYPT’S _land, of so healing a power._
The Nucta, or Miraculous Drop, which falls in Egypt precisely on St.
John’s Day, in June, and is supposed to have the effect of stopping
the plague.
Footnote 195:
p. 153.—_Are the diamond turrets of_ SHADUKIAM.
The Country of Delight—the name of a province in the kingdom of
Jinnistan, or Fairy Land, the capital of which is called the City of
Jewels. Amberabad is another of the cities of Jinnistan.
Footnote 196:
p. 153.—_My feast is now of the Tooba Tree._
The tree Tooba, that stands in Paradise, in the palace of Mahomet. See
_Sale’s Prelim. Disc._—Tooba, says _D’Herbelot_, signifies beatitude,
or eternal happiness.
Footnote 197:
p. 154.—_To the lote-tree, springing by_ ALLA’S _throne._
Mahomet is described, in the 53d chapter of the Koran, as having seen
the Angel Gabriel “by the lote-tree, beyond which there is no passing:
near it is the Garden of Eternal Abode.” This tree, say the
commentators, stands in the seventh Heaven, on the right hand of the
Throne of God.
Footnote 198:
p. 155.—_As the hundred and twenty thousand Streams of Basra._—“It is
said that the rivers or streams of Basra were reckoned in the time of
Pelal ben Abi Bordeh, and amounted to the number of one hundred and
twenty thousand streams.”—_Ebn Haukal._
Footnote 199:
p. 155.—_Who, like them, flung the jereed carelessly._—The name of the
javelin with which the Easterns exercise. See _Castellan, Mœurs des
Othomans_, tom. iii. p. 161.
Footnote 200:
p. 156.—_The Banyan Hospital._—“This account excited a desire of
visiting the Banyan Hospital, as I had heard much of their benevolence
to all kinds of animals that were either sick, lame, or infirm,
through age or accident. On my arrival, there were presented to my
view many horses, cows, and oxen, in one apartment; in another, dogs,
sheep, goats, and monkeys, with clean straw for them to repose on.
Above stairs were depositories for seeds of many sorts, and flat,
broad dishes for water, for the use of birds and insects.”—_Parson_’s
Travels.
It is said that all animals know the Banyans, that the most timid
approach them, and that birds will fly nearer to them than to other
people.—See _Grandpré_.
Footnote 201:
p. 157.—_Like that of the fragrant grass near the Ganges._—“A very
fragrant grass from the banks of the Ganges, near Heridwar, which in
some places covers whole acres, and diffuses, when crushed, a strong
odour.”—_Sir W. Jones_, on the Spikenard of the Ancients.
Footnote 202:
p. 157.—_No one had ever yet reached its summit._—“Near this is a
curious hill, called Koh Talism, the Mountain of the Talisman,
because, according to the traditions of the country, no person ever
succeeded in gaining its summit.”—_Kinneir._
Footnote 203:
p. 158.—_Is warmed into life by the eyes alone._—“The Arabians believe
that the ostriches hatch their young by only looking at them.”—_P.
Vanslebe, Rélat. d’Egypte._
Footnote 204:
p. 159.—_And then lost them again for ever._—See _Sale_’s Koran, note,
vol. ii. p. 484.
Footnote 205:
p. 159.—_While the artisans in chariots._—Oriental Tales.
Footnote 206:
p. 160.—_Who kept waving over their heads plates of gold and silver
flowers._—Ferishta. “Or rather,” says _Scott_, upon the passage of
Ferishta, from which this is taken, “small coins, stamped with the
figure of a flower. They are still used in India to distribute in
charity, and, on occasion, thrown by the purse-bearers of the great
among the populace.”
Footnote 207:
p. 160.—_Alley of trees._—The fine road made by the emperor
Jehan-Guire from Agra to Lahore, planted with trees on each side. This
road is 250 leagues in length. It has “little pyramids or turrets,”
says _Fernier_, “erected every half league, to mark the ways, and
frequent wells to afford drink to passengers, and to water the young
trees.”
Footnote 208:
p. 162.—_That favourite tree of the luxurious bird that lights up the
chambers of its nest with fire-flies._—The Baya, or Indian
Gross-beak.—_Sir W. Jones._
Footnote 209:
p. 162.—_On the clear cold waters of which floated multitudes of the
beautiful red lotus._—“Here is a large pagoda by a tank, on the water
of which float multitudes of the beautiful red lotus; the flower is
larger than that of the white water-lily, and is the most lovely of
the nymphæas I have seen.”—_Mrs. Graham_’s Journal of a Residence in
India.
Footnote 210:
p. 163.—_Had fled hither from their Arab conquerors._—“On les voit
persécutés par les Khalifes se retirer dans les montagnes du Kerman:
plusieurs choisirent pour retraite la Tartarie et la Chine; d’autres
s’arrêtè-rent sur les bords du Gange, à l’est de Delhi.”—_M.
Anquetil_, Mémoires de l’Académie, tom. xxxi. p. 346.
Footnote 211:
p. 163.—_Like their own Fire in the Burning Field at Bakou._—The “Ager
ardens” described by _Kæmpfer, Amœnitat. Exot._
Footnote 212:
p. 164.—_The prey of strangers._—“Cashmere (says its historians) had
its own princes 4000 years before its conquest by Akbar in 1585. Akbar
would have found some difficulty to reduce this paradise of the
Indies, situated as it is within such a fortress of mountains, but its
monarch, Yusef-Khan, was basely betrayed by his Omrahs.”—_Pennant._
Footnote 213:
p. 164.—_Fire-worshippers._—Voltaire tells us that in his Tragedy,
“Les Guèbres,” he was generally supposed to have alluded to the
Jansenists. I should not be surprised if this story of the
Fire-worshippers were found capable of a similar doubleness of
application.
Footnote 214:
p. 169.—_’Tis moonlight over_ OMAN’S _sea._
The Persian Gulf, sometimes so called, which separates the shores of
Persia and Arabia.
Footnote 215:
p. 169.—_’Tis moonlight in_ HARMOZIA’S _walls._
The present Gombaroon, a town on the Persian side of the Gulf.
Footnote 216:
p. 169.—_Of trumpet and the clash of zel._
A Moorish instrument of music.
Footnote 217:
p. 170.—_The wind-tower on the_ EMIR’S _dome._
“At Gombaroon and other places in Persia, they have towers for the
purpose of catching the wind, and cooling the houses.”—_Le Bruyn._
Footnote 218:
p. 170.—_His race hath brought on_ IRAN’S _name._
“Iran is the true general name for the empire of Persia.”—_Asiat.
Res._ Disc. 5.
Footnote 219:
p. 170.—_Engraven on his reeking sword._
“On the blades of their scimitars some verse from the Koran is usually
inscribed.”—_Russel._
Footnote 220:
p. 171.—_Draw venom forth that drives men mad._
“There is a kind of Rhododendros about Trebizond, whose flowers the
bee feeds upon, and the honey thence drives people mad.”—_Tournefort._
Footnote 221:
p. 172.—_Upon the turban of a king._
“Their kings wear plumes of black herons’ feathers upon the right
side, as a badge of sovereignty.”—_Hanway._
Footnote 222:
p. 173.—_Springing in a desolate mountain._
“The Fountain of Youth, by a Mahometan tradition, is situated in some
dark region of the East.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 223:
p. 173.—_On summer-eves, through_ YEMEN’S _dales._
Arabia Felix.
Footnote 224:
p. 174.—_Who, lull’d in cool kiosk or bower._
“In the midst of the garden is the chiosk, that is, a large room,
commonly beautified with a fine fountain in the midst of it. It is
raised nine or ten steps, and inclosed with gilded lattices, round
which vines, jessamines, and honeysuckles, make a sort of green wall;
large trees are planted round this place, which is the scene of their
greatest pleasures.”—_Lady M. W. Montague._
Footnote 225:
p. 174.—_Before their mirrors count the time._
The women of the East are never without their looking-glasses. “In
Barbary,” says _Shaw_, “they are so fond of their looking-glasses,
which they hang upon their breasts, that they will not lay them
aside, even when after the drudgery of the day they are obliged to
go two or three miles with a pitcher or a goat’s skin to fetch
water.”—_Travels._
In other parts of Asia they wear little looking-glasses on their
thumbs. “Hence (and from the lotus being considered the emblem of
beauty) is the meaning of the following mute intercourse of two lovers
before their parents:—
“‘He, with salute of deference due,
A lotus to his forehead prest;
She rais’d her mirror to his view,
Then turn’d it inward to her breast.’”
_Asiatic Miscellany_, vol. ii.
Footnote 226:
p. 174.—_Upon the emerald’s virgin blaze._
“They say that if a snake or serpent fix his eyes on the lustre of
those stones (emeralds), he immediately becomes blind.”—_Ahmed ben
Abdalaziz_ Treatise on Jewels.
Footnote 227:
p. 175.—_After the day-beam’s withering fire._
“At Gombaroon and the Isle of Ormus, it is sometimes so hot that the
people are obliged to lie all day in the water.”—_Marco Polo._
Footnote 228:
p. 176.—_Of_ ARARAT’S _tremendous peak._
This mountain is generally supposed to be inaccessible. _Struy_ says,
“I can well assure the reader that their opinion is not true, who
suppose this mount to be inaccessible.” He adds, that “the lower part
of the mountain is cloudy, misty, and dark; the middlemost part very
cold, and like clouds of snow; but the upper regions perfectly
calm.”—It was on this mountain that the ark was supposed to have
rested after the Deluge, and part of it, they say, exists there still,
which Struy thus gravely accounts for:—“Whereas none can remember that
the air on the top of the hill did ever change or was subject either
to wind or rain, which is presumed to be the reason that the Ark has
endured so long without being rotten.”—See _Carreri_’s Travels, where
the Doctor laughs at this whole account of Mount Ararat.
Footnote 229:
p. 177.—_The bridegroom, with his locks of light._
In one of the books of the Shâh Nâmeh, when Zal (a celebrated hero of
Persia, remarkable for his white hair) comes to the terrace of his
mistress Rodahver at night, she lets down her long tresses to assist
him in his ascent;—he, however, manages it in a less romantic way, by
fixing his crook in a projecting beam.—See _Champion’s Ferdosi_.
Footnote 230:
p. 177.—_The rock-goats of_ ARABIA _clamber._
“On the lofty hills of Arabia Petræa are rock-goats.”—_Niebuhr._
Footnote 231:
p. 178.—_Some ditty to her soft Kanoon._
“Canun, espèce de psaltérion, avec des cordes de boyaux; les dames en
touchent dans le sérail, avec des écailles armées de pointes de
cooc.”—_Toderini, translated by De Cournand._
Footnote 232:
p. 184.—_The Gheber belt that round him clung._
“They (the Ghebers) lay so much stress on their cushee or girdle, as
not to dare to be an instant without it.”—_Grose_’s Voyage.—“Le
jeune homme nia d’abord la chose; mais, ayant été dépouillé de sa
robe, et la large ceinture qu’il portoit comme Ghebr,” &c.
&c.—_D’Herbelot_, art. Agduani. “Pour se distinguer des Idolâtres de
l’Inde, les Guèbres se ceignent tous d’un cordon de laine, ou de
poil de chameau.”—_Encyclopédie Françoise._
D’Herbelot says this belt was generally of leather.
Footnote 233:
p. 184.—_Among the living lights of heaven._
“They suppose the Throne of the Almighty is seated in the sun, and
hence their worship of that luminary.”—_Hanway._ “As to fire, the
Ghebers place the spring-head of it in that globe of fire the Sun, by
them called Mythras, or Mihir, to which they pay the highest
reverence, in gratitude for the manifold benefits flowing from its
ministerial omniscience. But they are so far from confounding the
subordination of the Servant with the majesty of its Creator, that
they not only attribute no sort of sense or reasoning to the sun or
fire, in any of its operations, but consider it as a purely passive
blind instrument, directed and governed by the immediate impression on
it of the will of God: but they do not even give that luminary,
all-glorious as it is, more than the second rank amongst his works,
reserving the first for that stupendous production of divine power,
the mind of man.”—_Grose._ The false charges brought against the
religion of these people by their Mussulman tyrants is but one proof
among many of the truth of this writer’s remark, that “calumny is
often added to oppression, if but for the sake of justifying it.”
Footnote 234:
p. 188.—_And fiery darts, at intervals._
“The Mameluks that were in the other boat, when it was dark, used to
shoot up a sort of fiery arrows into the air, which in some measure
resembled lightning or falling stars.”—_Baumgarten._
Footnote 235:
p. 190.—_Which grows over the tomb of the musician, Tan-Sein._—“Within
the inclosure which surrounds this monument (at Gualior) is a small
tomb to the memory of Tan-Sein, a musician of incomparable skill, who
flourished at the court of Akbar. The tomb is overshadowed by a tree,
concerning which a superstitious notion prevails, that the chewing of
its leaves will give an extraordinary melody to the voice.”—_Narrative
of a Journey from Agra to Ouzein, by W. Hunter, Esq._
Footnote 236:
p. 190.—_The awful signal of the bamboo staff._—“It is usual to place
a small white triangular flag, fixed to a bamboo staff of ten or
twelve feet long, at the place where a tiger has destroyed a man. It
is common for the passengers also to throw each a stone or brick near
the spot, so that in the course of a little time a pile equal to a
good waggon-load is collected. The sight of these flags and piles of
stones imparts a certain melancholy, not perhaps altogether void of
apprehension.”—_Oriental Field Sports_, vol. ii.
Footnote 237:
p. 190.—_Ornamented with the most beautiful porcelain._—“The Ficus
Indica is called the Pagod Tree and Tree of Councils; the first, from
the idols placed under its shade; the second, because meetings were
held under its cool branches. In some places it is believed to be the
haunt of spectres, as the ancient spreading oaks of Wales have been of
fairies; in others are erected beneath the shade pillars of stone, or
posts, elegantly carved, and ornamented with the most beautiful
porcelain to supply the use of mirrors.”—_Pennant._
Footnote 238:
p. 192.—_And o’er the Green Sea palely shines._
The Persian Gulf—“To dive for pearls in the Green Sea, or Persian
Gulf.”—_Sir W. Jones._
Footnote 239:
p. 192.—_Revealing_ BAHREIN’S _groves of palm,
And lighting_ KISHMA’S _amber vines._
Islands in the Gulf.
Footnote 240:
p. 192.—_Blow round_ SELAMA’S _sainted cape._
Or Selemeh, the genuine name of the headland at the entrance of the
Gulf, commonly called Cape Musseldom. “The Indians, when they pass the
promontory, throw cocoa-nuts, fruits, or flowers, into the sea, to
secure a propitious voyage.”—_Morier._
Footnote 241:
p. 193.—_The nightingale now bends her flight._
“The nightingale sings from the pomegranate groves in the day-time,
and from the loftiest trees at night.”—_Russel_’s Aleppo.
Footnote 242:
p. 193.—_The best and brightest scimitar._
In speaking of the climate of Shiraz, Francklin says, “The dew is of
such a pure nature, that if the brightest scimitar should be exposed
to it all night, it would not receive the least rust.”
Footnote 243:
p. 194.—_Who, on_ CADESSIA’S _bloody plains._
The place where the Persians were finally defeated by the Arabs, and
their ancient monarchy destroyed.
Footnote 244:
p. 194.—_Beyond the Caspian’s Iron Gates._
Derbend.—“Les Turcs appellent cette ville Demir Capi, Porte de Fer; ce
sont les Caspiæ Portæ des anciens.”—_D’Herbelot._
Footnote 245:
p. 195.—_They burst, like Zeilan’s giant palm._
The Talpot or Talipot-tree. “This beautiful palm-tree, which grows in
the heart of the forests, may be classed among the loftiest trees, and
becomes still higher when on the point of bursting forth from its
leafy summit. The sheath which then envelopes the flower is very
large, and, when it bursts, makes an explosion like the report of a
cannon.”—_Thunberg._
Footnote 246:
p. 196.—_Before whose sabre’s dazzling light._
“When the bright cimitars make the eyes of our heroes wink.”—_The
Moallakat, Poem of Amru._
Footnote 247:
p. 198.—_Sprung from those old, enchanted kings._
Tahmuras, and other ancient kings of Persia; whose adventures in
Fairy-land among the Peris and Dives may be found in Richardson’s
curious Dissertation. The griffin Simoorgh, they say, took some
feathers from her breast for Tahmuras, with which he adorned his
helmet, and transmitted them afterwards to his descendants.
Footnote 248:
p. 199.—_Of sainted cedars on its banks._
This rivulet, says Dandini, is called the Holy river from the
“cedar-saints” among which it rises.
In the _Lettres Edifiantes_, there is a different cause assigned for
its name of Holy. “In these are deep caverns, which formerly served as
so many cells for a great number of recluses, who had chosen these
retreats as the only witnesses upon earth of the severity of their
penance. The tears of these pious penitents gave the river of which we
have just treated the name of the Holy River.”—See _Châteaubriand_’s
Beauties of Christianity.
Footnote 249:
p. 200.—_Of_ OMAN _beetling awfully._
This mountain is my own creation, as the “stupendous chain,” of which
I suppose it a link, does not extend quite so far as the shores of the
Persian Gulf. “This long and lofty range of mountains formerly divided
Media from Assyria, and now forms the boundary of the Persian and
Turkish empires. It runs parallel with the river Tigris and Persian
Gulf, and almost disappearing in the vicinity of Gomberoon (Harmozia),
seems once more to rise in the southern districts of Kerman, and
following an easterly course through the centre of Meckraun and
Balouchistan, is entirely lost in the deserts of Sinde.”—_Kinneir_’s
Persian Empire.
Footnote 250:
p. 201.—_That oft the sleeping albatross._
These birds sleep in the air. They are most common about the Cape of
Good Hope.
Footnote 251:
p 201.—_Beneath the Gheber’s lonely cliff._
There is an extraordinary hill in this neighbourhood, called Kohé
Gubr, or the Guebre’s mountain. It rises in the form of a lofty
cupola, and on the summit of it, they say, are the remains of an Atush
Kudu, or Fire-Temple. It is superstitiously held to be the residence
of Deeves or Sprites, and many marvellous stories are recounted of the
injury and witchcraft suffered by those who essayed in former days to
ascend or explore it.—_Pottinger_’s Beloochistan.
Footnote 252:
p. 202.—_Of that vast mountain stood on fire._
The Ghebers generally built their temples over subterraneous fires.
Footnote 253:
p. 202.—_Still did the mighty flame burn on._
“At the city of Yezd, in Persia, which is distinguished by the
appellation of the Darûb Abadut, or Seat of Religion, the Guebres are
permitted to have an Atush Kudu, or Fire-Temple, (which, they assert,
has had the sacred fire in it since the days of Zoroaster,) in their
own compartment of the city; but for this indulgence they are indebted
to the avarice, not the tolerance, of the Persian government, which
taxes them at twenty-five rupees each man.”—_Pottinger_’s
Beloochistan.
Footnote 254:
p. 204.—_The blood of_ ZAL _and_ RUSTAM _rolls._
Ancient heroes of Persia. “Among the Guebres there are some who boast
their descent from Rustam.”—_Stephen_’s Persia.
Footnote 255:
p. 204.—_Across the dark sea-robber’s way._
See Russel’s account of the panther’s attacking travellers in the
night on the sea-shore about the roots of Lebanon.
Footnote 256:
p. 206.—_The wandering Spirits of their Dead._
“Among other ceremonies the Magi used to place upon the tops of high
towers various kinds of rich viands, upon which it was supposed the
Peris and the spirits of their departed heroes regaled
themselves.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 257:
p. 206.—_Nor charmed leaf of pure pomegranate._
In the ceremonies of the Ghebers round their Fire, as described by
Lord, “the Daroo,” he says, “giveth them water to drink, and a
pomegranate leaf to chew in the mouth, to cleanse them from inward
uncleanness.”
Footnote 258:
p. 206.—_Nor symbol of their worshipp’d planet._
“Early in the morning, they (the Parsees or Ghebers at Oulam) go in
crowds to pay their devotions to the Sun, to whom upon all the altars
there are spheres consecrated, made by magic, resembling the circles
of the sun, and when the sun rises, these orbs seem to be inflamed,
and to turn round with a great noise. They have every one a censer in
their hands, and offer incense to the sun.”—_Rabbi Benjamin._
Footnote 259:
p. 206.—_They swore the latest, holiest deed._
“Nul d’entre eux oseroit se parjurer, quand il a pris à témoin cet
élément terrible et vengeur.”—_Encyclopédie Françoise._
Footnote 260:
p. 207.—_The Persian lily shines and towers._
“A vivid verdure succeeds the autumnal rains, and the ploughed fields
are covered with the Persian lily, of a resplendent yellow
colour.”—_Russel_’s Aleppo.
Footnote 261:
p. 210.—_When toss’d at midnight furiously._
“It is observed, with respect to the Sea of Herkend, that when it is
tossed by tempestuous winds it sparkles like fire.”—_Travels of Two
Mohammedans._
Footnote 262:
p. 210.—_Up, daughter, up—the_ KERNA’S _breath._
A kind of trumpet;—it “was that used by Tamerlane, the sound of which
is described as uncommonly dreadful, and so loud as to be heard at the
distance of several miles.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 263:
p. 212.—_Thou wor’st on_ OHOD’S _field of death._
“Mohammed had two helmets, an interior and exterior one; the latter of
which, called Al Mawashah, the fillet, wreath, or wreathed garland, he
wore at the battle of Ohod.”—_Universal History._
Footnote 264:
p. 214.—_But turn to ashes on the lips._
They say that there are apple-trees upon the sides of this sea, which
bear very lovely fruit, but within are all full of ashes.—_Thevenot._
The same is asserted of the oranges there; vide _Witman_’s Travels in
Asiatic Turkey.
“The Asphalt Lake, known by the name of the Dead Sea, is very
remarkable on account of the considerable proportion of salt which it
contains. In this respect it surpasses every other known water on the
surface of the earth. This great proportion of bitter tasted salts is
the reason why neither animal nor plant can live in this
water.”—_Klaproth_’s Chemical Analysis of the Water of the Dead Sea,
Annals of Philosophy, January, 1813. _Hasselquist_, however, doubts
the truth of this last assertion, as there are shell-fish to be found
in the lake.
Lord Byron has a similar allusion to the fruits of the Dead Sea, in
that wonderful display of genius, his third Canto of Childe
Harold,—magnificent beyond any thing, perhaps, that even _he_ has ever
written.
Footnote 265:
p. 214.—_While lakes, that shone in mockery nigh._
“The Suhrab, or Water of the Desert, is said to be caused by the
rarefaction of the atmosphere from extreme heat; and, which augments
the delusion, it is most frequent in hollows, where water might be
expected to lodge. I have seen bushes and trees reflected in it with
as much accuracy as though it had been the face of a clear and still
lake.”—_Pottinger._
“As to the unbelievers, their works are like a vapour in a plain which
the thirsty traveller thinketh to be water, until when he cometh
thereto he findeth it to be nothing.”—_Koran_, chap. 24.
Footnote 266:
p. 215.—_The Bid-musk had just passed over._—“A wind which prevails in
February, called Bidmusk, from a small and odoriferous flower of that
name.”—“The wind which blows these flowers commonly lasts till the end
of the month.”—_Le Bruyn._
Footnote 267:
p. 215.—_The sea-gipsies, who live for ever on the water._—“The Biajús
are of two races: the one is settled on Borneo, and are a rude but
warlike and industrious nation, who reckon themselves the original
possessors of the island of Borneo. The other is a species of
sea-gipsies or itinerant fishermen, who live in small covered boats,
and enjoy a perpetual summer on the eastern ocean, shifting to leeward
from island to island, with the variations of the monsoon. In some of
their customs this singular race resemble the natives of the Maldivia
islands. The Maldivians annually launch a small bark, loaded with
perfumes, gums, flowers, and odoriferous wood, and turn it adrift at
the mercy of winds and waves, as an offering to the _Spirit of the
Winds_; and sometimes similar offerings are made to the spirit whom
they term the _King of the Sea_. In like manner the Biajús perform
their offering to the God of Evil, launching a small bark, loaded with
all the sins and misfortunes of the nation, which are imagined to fall
on the unhappy crew that may be so unlucky as first to meet with
it.”—_Dr. Leyden_ on the Languages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese
Nations.
Footnote 268:
p. 215.—_The violet sherbets._—“The sweet-scented violet is one of the
plants most esteemed, particularly for its great use in Sorbet, which
they make of violet sugar.”—_Hasselquist._
“The sherbet they most esteem, and which is drunk by the Grand Signor
himself, is made of violets and sugar.”—_Tavernier._
Footnote 269:
p. 215.—_The pathetic measure of Nava._—“Last of all she took a
guitar, and sung a pathetic air in the measure called Nava, which is
always used to express the lamentations of absent lovers.”—_Persian
Tales._
Footnote 270:
p. 217.—_No music tim’d her parting oar._
“The Easterns used to set out on their longer voyages with
music.”—_Harmer._
Footnote 271:
p. 217.—_In silence through the Gate of Tears._
“The Gate of Tears, the straits or passage into the Red Sea, commonly
called Babelmandel. It received this name from the old Arabians, on
account of the danger of the navigation, and the number of shipwrecks
by which it was distinguished; which induced them to consider as dead,
and to wear mourning for all who had the boldness to hazard the
passage through it into the Ethiopic ocean.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 272:
p. 218.—_In the still warm and living breath._
“I have been told that whensoever an animal falls down dead, one or
more vultures, unseen before, instantly appear.”—_Pennant._
Footnote 273:
p. 218.—_As a young bird of_ BABYLON.
“They fasten some writing to the wings of a Bagdat or Babylonian
pigeon.”—_Travels of certain Englishmen._
Footnote 274:
p. 219.—_Shooting around their jasper fount._
“The Empress of Jehan-Guire used to divert herself with feeding tame
fish in her canals, some of which were many years afterwards known by
fillets of gold, which she caused to be put round them.”—_Harris._
Footnote 275:
p. 219.—_To tell her ruby rosary._
“Le Tespih, qui est un chapelet composé de 99 petites boules d’agate,
de jaspe, d’ambre, de corail, ou d’autre matière précieuse. J’en ai vu
un superbe au Seigneur Jerpos; il étoit de belles et grosses perles
parfaites et égales, estimé trente mille piastres.”—_Toderini._
Footnote 276:
p. 223.—_Like meteor brands as if throughout._
The meteors that Pliny calls “faces.”
Footnote 277:
p. 224.—_The Star of_ EGYPT _whose proud light._
“The brilliant Canopus, unseen in European climates.”—_Brown._
Footnote 278:
p. 224.—_In the White Islands of the West._
See Wilford’s learned Essays on the Sacred Isles in the West.
Footnote 279:
p. 225.—_Sparkles, as ’twere that lightning-gem._
A precious stone of the Indies, called by the ancients Ceraunium,
because it was supposed to be found in places where thunder had
fallen. Tertullian says it has a glittering appearance, as if there
had been fire in it; and the author of the Dissertation in Harris’s
Voyages supposes it to be the opal.
Footnote 280:
p. 227.—_Their garb—the leathern belt that wraps._
_D’Herbelot_, art. Agduani.
Footnote 281:
p. 227.—_Each yellow vest—that rebel hue._
“The Guebres are known by a dark yellow colour, which the men affect
in their clothes.”—_Thevenot._
Footnote 282:
p. 227.—_The Tartar fleece upon their caps._
“The Kolah or cap, worn by the Persians, is made of the skin of the
sheep of Tartary.”—_Waring._
Footnote 283:
p. 234.—_Open her bosom’s glowing veil._
A frequent image among the Oriental poets. “The nightingales warbled
their enchanting notes, and rent the thin veils of the rosebud and the
rose.”—_Jami._
Footnote 284:
p. 237.—_The sorrowful tree, Nilica._—“Blossoms of the sorrowful
Nyctanthes give a durable colour to silk.”—_Remarks on the Husbandry
of Bengal_, p. 200. Nilica is one of the Indian names of this
flower.—_Sir W. Jones._ The Persians call it Gul.—_Carreri._
Footnote 285:
p. 239.—_That cooling feast the traveller loves._
“In parts of Kerman, whatever dates are shaken from the trees by the
wind they do not touch, but leave them for those who have not any, or
for travellers.”—_Ebn Haukal._
Footnote 286:
p. 240.—_The Searchers of the Grave appear._
The two terrible angels Monkir and Nakir, who are called “the
Searchers of the Grave” in the “Creed of the orthodox Mahometans”
given by Ockley, vol. ii.
Footnote 287:
p. 240.—_The mandrake’s charnel leaves at night._
“The Arabians call the mandrake ‘the Devil’s candle,’ on account of
its shining appearance in the night.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 288:
p. 249.—_Of the still Halls of_ ISHMONIE.
For an account of Ishmonie, the petrified city in Upper Egypt, where
it is said there are many statues of men, women, &c. to be seen to
this day, see Perry’s _View of the Levant_.
Footnote 289:
p. 250.—_And ne’er did saint of_ ISSA _gaze._—Jesus.
Footnote 290:
p. 251.—_The death-flames that beneath him burn’d!_
The Ghebers say that when Abraham, their great Prophet, was thrown
into the fire by order of Nimrod, the flame turned instantly into “a
bed of roses, where the child sweetly reposed.”—_Tavernier._
Of their other Prophet, Zoroaster, there is a story told in _Dion
Prusæus_, Orat. 36, that the love of wisdom and virtue leading him to
a solitary life upon a mountain, he found it one day all in a flame,
shining with celestial fire, out of which he came without any harm,
and instituted certain sacrifices to God, who, he declared, then
appeared to him.—See _Patrick_ on Exodus, iii. 2.
Footnote 291:
p. 254.—_A ponderous sea-horn hung, and blew._
“The shell called Siiankos, common to India, Africa, and the
Mediterranean, and still used in many parts as a trumpet for blowing
alarms or giving signals: it sends forth a deep and hollow
sound.”—_Pennant._
Footnote 292:
p. 255.—_And the white ox-tails stream’d behind._
“The finest ornament for the horses is made of six large flying
tassels of long white hair, taken out of the tails of wild oxen, that
are to be found in some places of the Indies.”—_Thevenot._
Footnote 293:
p. 257.—_Sweet as the angel_ ISRAFIL’S.
“The angel Israfil, who has the most melodious voice of all God’s
creatures.”—_Sale._
Footnote 294:
p. 261.—_Wound slow, as through_ GOLCONDA’S _vale._
See Hoole upon the Story of Sinbad.
Footnote 295:
p. 265.—_From the wild covert where he lay._
“In this thicket upon the banks of the Jordan several sorts of wild
beasts are wont to harbour themselves, whose being washed out of the
covert by the overflowings of the river gave occasion to that allusion
of Jeremiah, _he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of
Jordan_.”—_Maundrell_’s Aleppo.
Footnote 296:
p. 275.—_Like the wind of the south o’er a summer lute blowing._
“This wind (the Samoor) so softens the strings of lutes, that they can
never be tuned while it lasts.”—_Stephen_’s Persia.
Footnote 297:
p. 275.—_With nought but the sea-star to light up her tomb._
“One of the greatest curiosities found in the Persian Gulf is a fish
which the English call Star-fish. It is circular, and at night very
luminous, resembling the full moon surrounded by rays.”—_Mirza Abu
Taleb._
Footnote 298:
p. 275.—_And still, when the merry date-season is burning._
For a description of the merriment of the date-time, of their work,
their dances, and their return home from the palm-groves at the end of
autumn with the fruits, see _Kæmpfer, Amœnitat. Exot._
Footnote 299:
p. 276.—_That ever the sorrowing sea-bird has wept._
Some naturalists have imagined that amber is a concretion of the tears
of birds.—See _Trevoux, Chambers_.
Footnote 300:
p. 276.—_We’ll seek where the sands of the Caspian are sparkling._
“The bay Kieselarke, which is otherwise called the Golden Bay, the
sand whereof shines as fire.”—_Struy._
Footnote 301:
p. 278.—_The summary criticism of the Chabuk._—“The application of
whips or rods.”—_Dubois._
Footnote 302:
p. 279.—_Chief Holder of the Girdle of Beautiful Forms._—Kæmpfer
mentions such an officer among the attendants of the King of Persia,
and calls him “formæ corporis estimator.” His business was, at stated
periods, to measure the ladies of the Haram by a sort of
regulation-girdle, whose limits it was not thought graceful to exceed.
If any of them outgrew this standard of shape, they were reduced by
abstinence till they came within proper bounds.
Footnote 303:
p. 279.—_Forbidden River._—The Attock.
“Akbar on his way ordered a fort to be built upon the Nilab, which he
called Attock, which means in the Indian language Forbidden; for, by
the superstition of the Hindoos, it was held unlawful to cross that
river.”—_Dow_’s Hindostan.
Footnote 304:
p. 280.—_One genial star that rises nightly over their heads._—“The
inhabitants of this country (Zinge) are never afflicted with sadness
or melancholy; on this subject the Sheikh _Abu-Al-Kheir-Azhari_ has
the following distich:—
“‘Who is the man without care or sorrow, (tell) that I may rub my hand
to him.
“‘(Behold) the Zingians, without care or sorrow, frolicksome with
tipsiness and mirth.’
“The philosophers have discovered that the cause of this cheerfulness
proceeds from the influence of the star Soheil or Canopus, which rises
over them every night.”—_Extract from a Geographical Persian
Manuscript called Heft Aklim, or the Seven Climates, translated by W.
Ouseley, Esq._
Footnote 305:
p. 281.—_Lizards._—“The lizard Stellio. The Arabs call it Hardun. The
Turks kill it, for they imagine that by declining the head it mimics
them when they say their prayers.”—_Hasselquist._
Footnote 306:
p. 281.—_Royal Gardens._—For these particulars respecting Hussun
Abdaul, I am indebted to the very interesting Introduction of Mr.
Elphinstone’s work upon Caubul.
Footnote 307:
p. 281.—_It was too delicious._—“As you enter at that Bazar, without
the gate of Damascus, you see the Green Mosque, so called because it
hath a steeple faced with green glazed bricks, which render it very
resplendent; it is covered at top with a pavilion of the same stuff.
The Turks say this mosque was made in that place, because Mahomet
being come so far, would not enter the town, saying it was too
delicious.”—_Thevenot._ This reminds one of the following pretty
passage in Isaac Walton:—“When I sat last on this primrose bank, and
looked down these meadows, I thought of them as Charles the Emperor
did of the city of Florence, ‘that they were too pleasant to be looked
on, but only on holidays.’”
Footnote 308:
p. 281.—_The Sultana Nourmahal, the Light of the Haram._—Nourmahal
signifies Light of the Haram. She was afterwards called Nourjehan, or
the Light of the World.
Footnote 309:
p. 282.—_The small shining fishes of which she was so fond._—See note,
p. 367.
Footnote 310:
p. 282.—_Haroun-al-Raschid and his fair mistress Marida._—“Haroun al
Raschid, cinquième Khalife des Abassides, s’étant un jour brouillé
avec une de ses maîtresses nommée Maridah, qu’il aimoit cependant
jusqu’à l’excès, et cette mésintelligence ayant déjà duré quelque tems
commença à s’ennuyer. Giafar Barmaki, son favori, qui s’en apperçut,
commanda à Abbas ben Ahnaf, excellent poëte de ce tems-là, de composer
quelques vers sur le sujet de cette brouillerie. Ce poëte exécuta
l’ordre de Giafar, qiu fit chanter ces vers par Moussali en présence
du Khalife, et ce Prince fut tellement touché de la tendresse des vers
du poëte et de la douceur de la voix du musicien, qu’il alla aussitôt
trouver Maridah, et fit sa paix avec elle.”—_D’Herbelot._
Footnote 311:
p. 285.—_With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave._
“The rose of Kashmire, for its brilliancy and delicacy of odour, has
long been proverbial in the East.”—_Forster._
Footnote 312:
p. 286.—_Round the waist of some fair Indian dancer is ringing._
“Tied round her waist the zone of bells, that sounded with ravishing
melody.”—_Song of Jayadeva._
Footnote 313:
p. 286.—_The young aspen-trees._
“The little isles in the Lake of Cachemire are set with arbours and
large-leaved aspen-trees, slender and tall.”—_Bernier._
Footnote 314:
p. 287.—_Shines in through the mountainous portal that opes._
“The Tuckt Suliman, the name bestowed by the Mahometans on this hill,
forms one side of a grand portal to the Lake.”—_Forster._
Footnote 315:
p. 287.—_The Valley holds its Feast of Roses._
“The Feast of Roses continues the whole time of their remaining in
bloom.”—See _Pietro de la Valle_.
Footnote 316:
p. 287.—_The Flow’ret of a hundred leaves._
“Gud sad berk, the Rose of a hundred leaves. I believe a particular
species.”—_Ouseley._
Footnote 317:
p. 287.—_Behind the palms of_ BARAMOULE.—_Bernier._
Footnote 318:
p. 288.—_On_ BELA’S _hills is less alive._
A place mentioned in the Toozek Jehangeery, or Memoirs of Jehanguire,
where there is an account of the beds of saffron-flowers about
Cashmere.
Footnote 319:
p. 289.—_Sung from his lighted gallery._
“It is the custom among the women to employ the Maazeen to chaunt from
the gallery of the nearest minaret, which on that occasion is
illuminated, and the women assembled at the house respond at intervals
with a ziraleet or joyous chorus.”—_Russel._
Footnote 320:
p. 289.—_From gardens, where the silken swing._
“The swing is a favourite pastime in the East, as promoting a
circulation of air, extremely refreshing in those sultry
climates.”—_Richardson._
“The swings are adorned with festoons. This pastime is accompanied
with the music of voices and of instruments, hired by the masters of
the swings.”—_Thevenot._
Footnote 321:
p. 289.—_Among the tents that line the way._
“At the keeping of the Feast of Roses we beheld an infinite number of
tents pitched, with such a crowd of men, women, boys, and girls, with
music, dances,” &c. &c.—_Herbert._
Footnote 322:
p. 290.—_An answer in song to the kiss of each wave._
“An old commentator of the Chou-King says, the ancients having
remarked that a current of water made some of the stones near its
banks send forth a sound, they detached some of them, and being
charmed with the delightful sound they emitted, constructed King or
musical instruments of them.”—_Grosier._
This miraculous quality has been attributed also to the shore of
Attica. “Hujus littus, ait Capella, concentum musicum illisis terræ
undis reddere, quod propter tantam eruditionis vim puto
dictum.”—_Ludov. Vives in Augustin. de Civitat. Dei_, lib. xviii. c.
8.
Footnote 323:
p. 290.—_So felt the magnificent Son of Acbar._
Jehanguire was the son of the Great Acbar.
Footnote 324:
p. 292.—_Yet playful as Peris just loos’d from their cages._
In the wars of the Dives with the Peris, whenever the former took the
latter prisoners, “they shut them up in iron cages, and hung them on
the highest trees. Here they were visited by their companions, who
brought them the choicest odours.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 325:
p. 293.—_Of the flowers of this planet—though treasures were there._
In the Malay language the same word signifies women and flowers.
Footnote 326:
p. 293.—_He saw that City of Delight._
The capital of Shadukiam. See note, p. 357.
Footnote 327:
p. 295.—_He sits, with flow’rets fetter’d round._
See the representation of the Eastern Cupid, pinioned closely round
with wreaths of flowers, in _Picart_’s Cérémonies Religieuses.
Footnote 328:
p. 295.—_Lose all their glory when he flies._
“Among the birds of Tonquin is a species of goldfinch, which sings so
melodiously that it is called the Celestial bird. Its wings, when it
is perched, appear variegated with beautiful colours, but when it
flies they lose all their splendour.”—_Grosier._
Footnote 329:
p. 296.—_Whose pinion knows no resting place._
“As these birds on the Bosphorus are never known to rest, they are
called by the French ‘les âmes damnées.’”—_Dalloway._
Footnote 330:
p. 296.—_If there his darling rose is not._
“You may place a hundred handfuls of fragrant herbs and flowers before
the nightingale, yet he wishes not, in his constant heart, for more
than the sweet breath of his beloved rose.”—_Jami._
Footnote 331:
p. 298.—_From the great Mantra, which around._
“He is said to have found the great _Mantra_, spell or talisman,
through which he ruled over the elements and spirits of all
denominations.”—_Wilford._
Footnote 332:
p. 298.—_To the gold gems of_ AFRIC.
“The gold jewels of Jinnie, which are called by the Arabs El Herrez,
from the supposed charm they contain.”—_Jackson._
Footnote 333:
p. 298.—_To keep him from the Siltim’s harm._
“A demon, supposed to haunt woods, &c. in a human
shape.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 334:
p. 298.—_Her Selim’s smile to_ NOURMAHAL.
The name of Jehanguire before his accession to the throne.
Footnote 335:
p. 300.—_Anemones and Seas of Gold._
“Hemasagara, or the Sea of Gold, with flowers of the brightest gold
colour.”—_Sir W. Jones._
Footnote 336:
p. 300.—_Their buds on_ CAMADEVA’S _quiver._
“This tree (the Nagacesara) is one of the most delightful on earth,
and the delicious odour of its blossoms justly gives them a place in
the quiver of Camadeva, or the God of Love.”—_Id._
Footnote 337:
p. 300.—_Is call’d the Mistress of the Night._
“The Malayans style the tube-rose (Polianthes tuberosa) Sandal Malam,
or the Mistress of the Night.”—_Pennant._
Footnote 338:
p. 300.—_That wander through_ ZAMARA’S _shades._
The people of the Batta country in Sumatra (of which Zamara is one of
the ancient names), “when not engaged in war, lead an idle, inactive
life, passing the day in playing on a kind of flute, crowned with
garlands of flowers, among which the globe-amaranthus, a native of the
country, mostly prevails.”—_Marsden._
Footnote 339:
p. 300.—_From the divine Amrita tree._
“The largest and richest sort (of the Jambu, or rose-apple) is called
Amrita, or immortal, and the mythologists of Tibet apply the same word
to a celestial tree, bearing ambrosial fruit.”—_Sir W. Jones._
Footnote 340:
p. 301.—_Down to the basil tuft, that waves._
Sweet basil, called Rayhan in Persia, and generally found in
church-yards.
“The women in Egypt go, at least two days in the week, to pray and
weep at the sepulchres of the dead; and the custom then is to throw
upon the tombs a sort of herb, which the Arabs call _rihan_, and which
is our sweet basil.”—_Maillet_, Lett. 10.
Footnote 341:
p. 301.—_To scent the desert and the dead._
“In the Great Desert are found many stalks of lavender and
rosemary.”—_Asiat. Res._
Footnote 342:
p. 303.—_That blooms on a leafless bough._
“The almond-tree, with white flowers, blossoms on the bare
branches.”—_Hasselquist._
Footnote 343:
p. 303.—_Inhabit the mountain-herb, that dyes._
An herb on Mount Libanus, which is said to communicate a yellow golden
hue to the teeth of the goats and other animals that graze upon it.
_Niebuhr_ thinks this may be the herb which the Eastern alchymists
look to as a means of making gold. “Most of those alchymical
enthusiasts think themselves sure of success, if they could but find
out the herb, which gilds the teeth and gives a yellow colour to the
flesh of the sheep that eat it. Even the oil of this plant must be of
a golden colour. It is called _Haschischat ed dab_.”
Father Jerom Dandini, however, asserts that the teeth of the goats at
Mount Libanus are of a _silver_ colour; and adds, “This confirms to me
that which I observed in Candia: to wit, that the animals that live on
Mount Ida eat a certain herb, which renders their teeth of a golden
colour; which, according to my judgment, cannot otherwise proceed than
from the mines which are under ground.”—_Dandini_, Voyage to Mount
Libanus.
Footnote 344:
p. 304.—_Of_ AZAB _blew, was full of scents._—The myrrh country.
Footnote 345:
p. 304.—_Where Love himself, of old, lay sleeping._
“This idea (of deities living in shells) was not unknown to the
Greeks, who represent the young Nerites, one of the Cupids, as living
in shells on the shores of the Red Sea.”—_Wilford._
Footnote 346:
p. 305.—_From_ CHINDARA’S _warbling fount I come._
“A fabulous mountain, where instruments are said to be constantly
playing.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 347:
p. 307.—_The cinnamon-seed from grove to grove._
“The Pompadour pigeon is the species, which, by carrying the fruit of
the cinnamon to different places, is a great disseminator of this
valuable tree.”—See _Brown_’s Illustr. Tab. 19.
Footnote 348:
p. 307.—_The past, the present, and future of pleasure._
“Whenever our pleasure arises from a succession of sounds, it is a
perception of a complicated nature, made up of a _sensation_ of the
present sound or note, and an _idea_ or remembrance of the foregoing,
while their mixture and concurrence produce such a mysterious delight,
as neither could have produced alone. And it is often heightened by an
anticipation of the succeeding notes. Thus Sense, Memory and
Imagination are conjunctively employed.”—_Gerrard_ on Taste.
This is exactly the Epicurean theory of Pleasure, as explained by
Cicero:—“Quocirca corpus gaudere tamdiu, dum præsentem sentiret
voluptatem: animum et præsentem percipere pariter cum corpore et
prospicere venientem, nec præteritam præterfluere sinere.”
Madame de Staël accounts upon the same principle for the gratification
we derive from _rhyme_:—“Elle est l’image de l’espérance et du
souvenir. Un son nous fait désirer celui qui doit lui répondre, et
quand le second retentit il nous rappelle celui qui vient de nous
échapper.”
Footnote 349:
p. 308.—_Whose glimpses are again withdrawn._
“The Persians have two mornings, the Soobhi Kazim and the Soobhi
Sadig, the false and the real day-break. They account for this
phenomenon in a most whimsical manner. They say that as the sun rises
from behind the Kohi Qaf (Mount Caucasus), it passes a hole perforated
through that mountain, and that darting its rays through it, it is the
cause of the Soobhi Kazim, or this temporary appearance of day-break.
As it ascends, the earth is again veiled in darkness, until the sun
rises above the mountain, and brings with it the Soobhi Sadig, or real
morning.”—_Scott Waring._ He thinks Milton may allude to this, when he
says,—
“Ere the blabbing Eastern scout,
The nice morn on the Indian steep
From her cabin’d loop-hole peep.”
Footnote 350:
p. 309.—_In his magnificent Shalimar._
“In the centre of the plain, as it approaches the Lake, one of the
Delhi Emperors, I believe Shah Jehan, constructed a spacious garden
called the Shalimar, which is abundantly stored with fruit-trees and
flowering shrubs. Some of the rivulets which intersect the plain are
led into a canal at the back of the garden, and flowing through its
centre, or occasionally thrown into a variety of water-works, compose
the chief beauty of the Shalimar. To decorate this spot, the Mogul
Princes of India have displayed an equal magnificence and taste;
especially Jehan Gheer, who, with the enchanting Noor Mahl, made
Kashmire his usual residence during the summer months. On arches
thrown over the canal are erected, at equal distances, four or five
suites of apartments, each consisting of a saloon, with four rooms at
the angles, where the followers of the court attend, and the servants
prepare sherbets, coffee, and the hookah. The frame of the doors of
the principal saloon is composed of pieces of a stone of a black
colour, streaked with yellow lines, and of a closer grain and higher
polish than porphyry. They were taken, it is said, from a Hindoo
temple, by one of the Mogul princes, and are esteemed of great
value.”—_Forster._
Footnote 351:
p. 309.—_Of beauty from its founts and streams._
“The waters of Cachemir are the more renowned from its being supposed
that the Cachemirians are indebted for their beauty to them.”—_Ali
Yezdi._
Footnote 352:
p. 309.—_Singing in gardens of the South._
“From him I received the following little Gazzel, or Love Song, the
notes of which he committed to paper from the voice of one of those
singing girls of Cashmere, who wander from that delightful valley over
the various parts of India.”—_Persian Miscellanies._
Footnote 353:
p. 309.—_Delicate as the roses there._
“The roses of the Jinan Nile, or Garden of the Nile (attached to the
Emperor of Marocco’s palace), are unequalled, and mattresses are made
of their leaves for the men of rank to recline upon.”—_Jackson._
Footnote 354:
p. 309.—_With Paphian diamonds in their locks._
“On the side of a mountain near Paphos there is a cavern which
produces the most beautiful rock-crystal. On account of its brilliancy
it has been called the Paphian diamond.”—_Mariti._
Footnote 355:
p. 309.—_On the gold meads of Candahar._
“There is a part of Candahar, called Peria, or Fairy
Land.”—_Thevenot._ In some of those countries to the north of India,
vegetable gold is supposed to be produced.
Footnote 356:
p. 310.—_Had been by magic all set flying._
“These are the butterflies which are called in the Chinese language
Flying Leaves. Some of them have such shining colours, and are so
variegated, that they may be called flying flowers; and indeed they
are always produced in the finest flower-gardens.”—_Dunn._
Footnote 357:
p. 310.—_The features of young Arab maids._
“The Arabian women wear black masks with little clasps prettily
ordered.”—_Carreri._ Niebuhr mentions their showing but one eye in
conversation.
Footnote 358:
p. 311.—_On_ CASBIN’S _hills._
“The golden grapes of Casbin.”—_Description of Persia._
Footnote 359:
p. 311.—_And sunniest apples that Caubul_—
“The fruits exported from Caubul are apples, pears, pomegranates,”
&c.—_Elphinstone._
Footnote 360:
p. 311.—_in all its thousand gardens bears._
“We sat down under a tree, listened to the birds, and talked with the
son of our Mehmaundar about our country and Caubul, of which he gave
an enchanting account: that city and its 100,000 gardens,” &c.—_Id._
Footnote 361:
p. 311.—MALAYA’S _nectar’d mangusteen._
“The mangusteen, the most delicate fruit in the world; the pride of
the Malay islands.”—_Marsden._
Footnote 362:
p. 311.—_Seed of the Sun, from_ IRAN’S _land._
“A delicious kind of apricot, called by the Persians tokm-ek-shems,
signifying sun’s seed.”—_Description of Persia._
Footnote 363:
p. 311.—_With rich conserve of Visna cherries._
“Sweetmeats, in a crystal cup, consisting of rose-leaves in conserve,
with lemon of Visna cherry orange flowers,” &c.—_Russel._
Footnote 364:
p. 311.—_Feed on in Erac’s rocky dells._
“Antelopes, cropping the fresh berries of Erac.”—The _Moallakat_, Poem
of Tarafa.
Footnote 365:
p. 311.—_And urns of porcelain from that isle._
Mauri-ga-Sima, an island near Formosa, supposed to have been sunk in
the sea for the crimes of its inhabitants. The vessels which the
fishermen and divers bring up from it are sold at an immense price in
China and Japan.—See _Kæmpfer_.
Footnote 366:
p. 312.—_Amber Rosolli._—Persian Tales.
Footnote 367:
p. 312.—_From vineyards of the Green-Sea gushing._
The white wine of Kishma.
Footnote 368:
p. 312.—_Offer’d a city’s wealth._
“The King of Zeilan is said to have the very finest ruby that was ever
seen. Kublai-Khan sent and offered the value of a city for it, but the
King answered he would not give it for the treasure of the
world.”—_Marco Polo._
Footnote 369:
p. 312.—_Upon a rosy lotus wreath._
The Indians feign that Cupid was first seen floating down the Ganges
on the Nymphæa Nelumbo.—See _Pennant_.
Footnote 370:
p. 312.—_When warm they rise from Teflis’ brooks._
Teflis is celebrated for its natural warm baths.—See _Ebn Haukal_.
Footnote 371:
p. 312.—_Of a syrinda._
“The Indian Syrinda, or guitar.”—_Symez._
Footnote 372:
p. 313.—_It is this, it is this._
“Around the exterior of the Dewan Khafs (a building of Shah Allum’s)
in the cornice are the following lines in letters of gold upon a
ground of white marble:—‘_If there be a paradise upon earth, it is
this, it is this._’”—_Franklin._
Footnote 373:
p. 313.—_As the flower of the Amra just op’d by a bee._
“Delightful are the flowers of the Amra trees on the mountain-tops,
while the murmuring bees pursue their voluptuous toil.”—_Song of
Jayadeva._
Footnote 374:
p. 314.—_And precious their tears as that rain from the sky._
“The Nisan or drops of spring rain, which they believe to produce
pearls if they fall into shells.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 375:
p. 314.—_Who for wine of this earth left the fountains above._
For an account of the share which wine had in the fall of the angels,
see _Mariti_.
Footnote 376:
p. 314.—_Of_ ISRAFIL, _the Angel, there._
The Angel of Music. See note 293.
Footnote 377:
p. 318.—_When first ’tis by the lapwing found._
The Hudhud, or Lapwing, is supposed to have the power of discovering
water under ground.
Footnote 378:
p. 321.—_Of her dream._—See p. 215.
Footnote 379:
p. 322.—_Like that painted porcelain._ “The Chinese had formerly the
art of painting on the sides of porcelain vessels fish and other
animals, which were only perceptible when the vessel was full of some
liquor. They call this species Kia-tsin, that is, _azure is put in
press_, on account of the manner in which the azure is laid on.”—“They
are every now and then trying to recover the art of this magical
painting, but to no purpose.”—_Dunn._
Footnote 380:
p. 323.—_House of Azor._—An eminent carver of idols, said in the Koran
to be father to Abraham. “I have such a lovely idol as is not to be
met with in the house of Azor.”—_Hafiz._
Footnote 381:
p. 323.—_The Unequalled._—Kachmire be Nazeer.—_Forster._
Footnote 382:
p. 324.—_Miraculous fountains._—“The pardonable superstition of the
sequestered inhabitants has multiplied the places of worship of
Mahadeo, of Beschan, and of Brama. All Cashmere is holy land, and
miraculous fountains abound.”—_Major Rennel_’s Memoirs of a Map of
Hindostan.
Jehanguire mentions “a fountain in Cashmere called Tirnagh, which
signifies a snake; probably because some large snake had formerly been
seen there.”—“During the lifetime of my father, I went twice to this
fountain, which is about twenty coss from the city of Cashmere. The
vestiges of places of worship and sanctity are to be traced without
number amongst the ruins and the caves, which are interspersed in its
neighbourhood.”—_Toozek Jehangeery._—Vide _Asiat. Misc._ vol. ii.
There is another account of Cashmere by Abul-Fazil, the author of the
Ayin-Acbaree, “who,” says _Major Rennel_, “appears to have caught some
of the enthusiasm of the valley, by his description of the holy places
in it.”
Footnote 383:
p. 324.—_Roofed with flowers._—“On a standing roof of wood is laid a
covering of fine earth, which shelters the building from the great
quantity of snow that falls in the winter season. This fence
communicates an equal warmth in winter, as a refreshing coolness in
the summer season, when the tops of the houses, which are planted with
a variety of flowers, exhibit at a distance the spacious view of a
beautifully chequered parterre.”—_Forster._
Footnote 384:
p. 324.—_The triple-coloured tortoise-shell of Pegu._—“Two hundred
slaves there are, who have no other office than to hunt the woods and
marshes for triple-coloured tortoises for the King’s Vivary. Of the
shells of these also lanterns are made.”—_Vincent le Blanc_’s Travels.
Footnote 385:
p. 325.—_Like the meteors of the north as they are seen by those
hunters._—For a description of the Aurora Borealis as it appears to
these hunters, vide _Encyclopædia_.
Footnote 386:
p. 325.—_Odoriferous wind._—This wind, which is to blow from Syria
Damascena, is, according to the Mahometans, one of the signs of the
Last Day’s approach.
Another of the signs is, “Great distress in the world, so that a man
when he passes by another’s grave shall say, ‘Would to God I were in
his place!’”—_Sale_’s Preliminary Discourse.
Footnote 387:
p. 328.—_As precious as the Cerulean Throne of Coolburga._—“On
Mahommed Shaw’s return to Koolburga (the capital of Dekkan), he made a
great festival, and mounted this throne with much pomp and
magnificence, calling it Firozeh, or Cerulean. I have heard some old
persons, who saw the throne Firozeh in the reign of Sultan Mamood
Bhamenee, describe it. They say that it was in length nine feet, and
three in breadth; made of ebony, covered with plates of pure gold, and
set with precious stones of immense value. Every prince of the house
of Bhamenee, who possessed this throne, made a point of adding to it
some rich stones; so that when in the reign of Sultan Mamood it was
taken to pieces, to remove some of the jewels to be set in vases and
cups, the jewellers valued it at one corore of oons (nearly four
millions sterling). I learned also that it was called Firozeh from
being partly enamelled of a sky-blue colour, which was in time totally
concealed by the number of jewels.”—_Ferishta._