’l-Khalanji:
Honey’s served to them in platters for food; ✿ Camels’ milk in bowls
of the Khalanj wood.
The pl. Khalánij is used by Himyán bin Kaháfah in this “bayt”:—
Hattá izá má qazati ’l-Hawáijá ✿ Wa malaat Halába-há ’l-Khalánijá:
Until she had done every work of hers ✿ And with sweet milk had filled
the porringers.
Footnote 402:
In text Al-Shá’ir Al-Walahán, vol. iii. 226.
Footnote 403:
The orange I have said is the growth of India and the golden apples of
the Hesperides were not oranges but probably golden nuggets. Captain
Rolleston (_Globe_, Feb. 5, ’84, on “Morocco-Lixus”) identifies the
Garden with the mouth of the Lixus River while M. Antichan would
transfer it to the hideous and unwholesome Bissagos Archipelago.
Footnote 404:
Arab. “Ikyán,” the living gold which is supposed to grow in the
ground.
Footnote 405:
For the Kubbád or Captain Shaddock’s fruit see vol. ii. 310, where it
is misprinted Kubád.
Footnote 406:
Full or Fill in Bresl. Edit. = Arabian Jessamine or cork-tree φελλόν.
The Bul. and Mac. Edits. read “filfil” = pepper or palm-fibre.
Footnote 407:
Arab. “Sumbul al-’Anbari”; the former word having been introduced into
England by patent medicines. “Sumbul” in Arab. and Pers. means the
hyacinth, the spikenard or the Sign Virgo.
Footnote 408:
Arab. “Lisán al-Hamal” lit. = Lamb’s tongue.
Footnote 409:
See in Bresl. Edit. x, 221. Taif, a well-known town in the mountain
region East of Meccah, and not in the Holy Land, was once famous for
scented goat’s leather. It is considered to be a “fragment of Syria”
(Pilgrimage ii. 207) and derives its name = the circumambulator from
its having circuited pilgrim-like round the Ka’abah (Ibid.)
Footnote 410:
Arab. “Mikhaddah” = cheek-pillow: Ital. guanciale. In Bresl. Edit.
Mudawwarah (a round cushion) Sinjabiyah (of Ermine). For “Mudawwarah”
see vol. iv. 135.
Footnote 411:
“Coffee” is here evidently an anachronism and was probably inserted by
the copyist. See vol. v. 169, for its first mention. But “Kahwah” may
have preserved its original meaning = strong old wine (vol. ii. 261);
and the amount of wine-drinking and drunkenness proves that the coffee
movement had not set in.
Footnote 412:
_i.e._ they are welcome. In Marocco “Lá baas” means, “I am pretty
well” (in health).
Footnote 413:
The Rose (Ward) in Arab. is masculine, sounding to us most uncouth.
But there is a fem. form Wardah = a single rose.
Footnote 414:
Arab. “Akmám,” pl. of Kumm, a sleeve, a petal. See vol. iv. 107 and
supra p. 267. The Moslem woman will show any part of her person rather
than her face, instinctively knowing that the latter may be recognised
whereas the former cannot. The traveller in the outer East will see
ludicrous situations in which the modest one runs away with hind parts
bare and head and face carefully covered.
Footnote 415:
Arab. Ikyán which Mr. Payne translates “vegetable gold” very
picturesquely but not quite preserving the idea. See supra p. 272.
Footnote 416:
It is the custom for fast youths, in Egypt, Syria, and elsewhere to
stick small gold pieces, mere spangles of metal on the brows, cheeks
and lips of the singing and dancing girls and the perspiration and
mask of cosmetics make them adhere for a time till fresh movement
shakes them off.
Footnote 417:
See the same idea in vol. i. 132, and 349.
Footnote 418:
“They will ask thee concerning wine and casting of lots; say:—In both
are great sin and great advantages to mankind; but the sin of them
both is greater than their advantage.” See Koran ii. 216. Mohammed
seems to have made up his mind about drinking by slow degrees; and the
Koranic law is by no means so strict as the Mullahs have made it. The
prohibitions, revealed at widely different periods and varying in
import and distinction, have been discussed by Al-Bayzáwi in his
commentary on the above chapter. He says that the first revelation was
in chapt. xvi. 69 but, as the passage was disregarded, Omar and others
consulted the Apostle who replied to them in chapt. ii. 216. Then, as
this also was unnoticed, came the final decision in chapt. v. 92,
making wine and lots the work of Satan. Yet excuses are never wanting
to the Moslem, he can drink Champagne and Cognac, both unknown in
Mohammed’s day and he can use wine and spirits medicinally, like
sundry of ourselves, who turn up the nose of contempt at the idea of
drinking for pleasure.
Footnote 419:
_i.e._ a fair-faced cup-bearer. The lines have occurred before: so I
quote Mr. Payne.
Footnote 420:
It is the custom of the Arabs to call their cattle to water by
whistling; not to whistle to them, as Europeans do, whilst making
water.
Footnote 421:
_i.e._ bewitching. See vol. i. 85. These incompatible metaphors are
brought together by the Saj’a (prose rhyme) in—“iyah.”
Footnote 422:
Mesopotamian Christians, who still turn towards Jerusalem, face the
West, instead of the East, as with Europeans: here the monk is so
dazed that he does not know what to do.
Footnote 423:
Arab. “Bayt Sha’ar” = a house of hair (tent) or a couplet of verse.
Watad (a tent-peg) also is prosodical, a foot when the two first
letters are “moved” (vowelled) and the last is jazmated (quiescent),
_e.g._ Lakad. It is termed Majmú’a (united), as opposed to “Mafrúk”
(separated), _e.g._ Kabla, when the “moved” consonants are disjoined
by a quiescent.
Footnote 424:
Lit. standing on their heads, which sounds ludicrous enough in
English, not in Arabic.
Footnote 425:
These lines are in vol. iii. 251. I quote Mr. Payne who notes “The
bodies of Eastern women of the higher classes by dint of continual
maceration, Esther-fashion, in aromatic oils and essences, would
naturally become impregnated with the sweet scents of the cosmetics
used.”
Footnote 426:
These lines occur in vol. i. 218: I quote Torrens for variety.
Footnote 427:
So we speak of a “female screw.” The allusion is to the dove-tailing
of the pieces. This personification of the lute has occurred before:
but I solicit the reader’s attention to it; it has a fulness of
Oriental flavour all its own.
Footnote 428:
I again solicit the reader’s attention to the simplicity, the pathos
and the beauty of this personification of the lute.
Footnote 429:
“They” for she.
Footnote 430:
The Arabs very justly make the “’Andalíb” = nightingale, masculine.
Footnote 431:
Anwár = lights or flowers: See Night dccclxv. supra p. 270.
Footnote 432:
These couplets have occurred in vol. i. 168: so I quote Mr. Payne.
Footnote 433:
_i.e._ You may have his soul but leave me his body: company with him
in the next world and let me have him in this.
Footnote 434:
Alluding to the Koranic (cxiii. 1.), “I take refuge with the Lord of
the Daybreak from the mischief of that which He hath created, etc.”
This is shown by the first line wherein occurs the Koranic word
“Ghásik” (cxiii. 3) which may mean the first darkness when it
overspreadeth or the moon when it is eclipsed.
Footnote 435:
“Malak” = level ground; also tract on the Nile sea. Lane M.E. ii. 417,
and Burckhardt Nubia 482.
Footnote 436:
This sentiment has often been repeated.
Footnote 437:
The owl comes in because “Búm” (pron. boom) rhymes with Kayyúm = the
Eternal.
Footnote 438:
For an incident like this see my Pilgrimage (vol. i. 176). How true to
nature the whole scene is; the fond mother excusing her boy and the
practical father putting the excuse aside. European paternity,
however, would probably exclaim, “The beast’s in liquor!”
Footnote 439:
In ancient times this seems to have been the universal and perhaps
instinctive treatment of the hand that struck a father. By Nur
al-Din’s flight the divorce-oath became technically null and void for
Taj al-Din had sworn to mutilate his son next morning.
Footnote 440:
So Roderic Random and his companions “sewed their money between the
lining and the waistband of their breeches, except some loose silver
for immediate expense on the road.” For a description of these purses
see Pilgrimage i. 37.
Footnote 441:
Arab. Rashid (our Rosetta), a corruption of the Coptic Trashit; ever
famous for the Stone.
Footnote 442:
For a parallel passage in praise of Alexandria see vol. i. 290, etc.
The editor or scribe was evidently an Egyptian.
Footnote 443:
Arab. “Saghr” (Thagr), the opening of the lips showing the teeth. See
vol. i. p. 156.
Footnote 444:
Iskandariyah, the city of Iskandar or Alexander the Great, whose
“Soma” was attractive to the Greeks as the corpse of the Prophet
Daniel afterwards was to the Moslems. The choice of site, then
occupied only by the pauper village of Rhacotis, is one proof of many
that the Macedonian conqueror had the inspiration of genius.
Footnote 445:
_i.e._ paid them down. See vol. i. 281; vol. ii. 145.
Footnote 446:
Arab. “Baltiyah,” Sonnini’s “Bolti” and Nébuleux (because it is
dozid-coloured when fried), the Labrus Niloticus from its labra or
large fleshy lips. It lives on the “leaves of Paradise” hence the
flesh is delicate and savoury and it is caught with the épervier or
sweep-net in the Nile, canals and pools.
Footnote 447:
Arab. “Liyyah,” not a delicate comparison, but exceedingly apt besides
rhyming to “Baltiyah.” The cauda of the “five-quarter sheep, whose
tails are so broad and thick that there is as much flesh upon them as
upon a quarter of their body,” must not be confounded with the lank
appendage of Our English muttons. See i. 25, Dr. Burnell’s Linschoten
(Hakluyt Soc. 1885).
Footnote 448:
A variant occurs in vol. iv. 191.
Footnote 449:
Arab. “Tars Daylami,” a small shield of bright metal.
Footnote 450:
Arab. “Kaukab al-durri,” see Pilgrimage ii. 82.
Footnote 451:
Arab. “Kusúf” applied to the moon; Khusúf being the solar eclipse.
Footnote 452:
“May Abú Lahab’s hands perish ... and his wife be a bearer of
faggots!” Koran cxi. 184. The allusion is neat.
Footnote 453:
Alluding to the Angels who shoot down the Jinn. See vol. i. 224. The
index misprints “Shibáh.”
Footnote 454:
For a similar scene see Ali Shar and Zumurrud, vol. iv. 187.
Footnote 455:
_i.e._ of the girl whom as the sequel shows, her owner had promised
not to sell without her consent. This was and is a common practice.
See vol. iv. 192.
Footnote 456:
These lines have occurred in vol. iii. p. 303. I quote Mr. Payne.
Footnote 457:
Alluding to the erectio et distensio penis which comes on before dawn
in tropical lands and which does not denote any desire for women. Some
Anglo-Indians term the symptom _signum salutis_, others a urine-proud
pizzle.
Footnote 458:
Arab. “Mohtasib,” in the Maghrib “Mohtab,” the officer charged with
inspecting weights and measures and with punishing fraud in various
ways such as nailing the cheat’s ears to his shop’s shutter, etc.
Footnote 459:
Every where in the Moslem East the slave holds himself superior to the
menial freeman, a fact which I would impress upon the several
Anti-slavery Societies, honest men whose zeal mostly exceeds their
knowledge, and whose energy their discretion.
Footnote 460:
These lines, extended to three couplets, occur in vol. iv. 193. I
quote Mr. Payne.
Footnote 461:
“At this examination (on Judgment Day) Mohammedans also believe that
each person will have the book, wherein all the actions of his life
are written, delivered to him; which books the righteous will receive
in their right hand, and read with great pleasure and satisfaction;
but the ungodly will be obliged to take them, against their wills, in
their left (Koran xvii. xviii. lxix. and lxxxiv.), which will be bound
behind their backs, their right hand being tied to their necks.” Sale,
Preliminary Discourse; Sect. iv.
Footnote 462:
“Whiteness” (bayáz) also meaning lustre, honour.
Footnote 463:
This again occurs in vol. iv. 194. So I quote Mr. Payne.
Footnote 464:
Her impudence is intended to be that of a captive Princess.
Footnote 465:
_i.e._ bent groundwards.
Footnote 466:
See vol. iv. 192. In Marocco Za’ar is applied to a man with fair skin,
red hair and blue eyes (Gothic blood?) and the term is not
complimentary as “Sultan Yazid Za’ar.”
Footnote 467:
The lines have occurred before (vol. iv. 194). I quote Mr. Lane ii.
440. Both he and Mr. Payne have missed the point in “ba’zu layáli” a
certain night when his mistress had left him so lonely.
Footnote 468:
Arab. “Raat-hu.” This apparently harmless word suggests one similar in
sound and meaning which gave some trouble in its day. Says Mohammed in
the Koran (ii. 98) “O ye who believe! say not (to the Apostle) Rá’iná
(look at us) but Unzurná (regard us).” “Rá’iná” as pronounced in
Hebrew means “our bad one.”
Footnote 469:
By reason of its leanness.
Footnote 470:
In the Mac. Edit. “Fifty.” For a scene which illustrates this
mercantile transaction see my Pilgrimage i. 88, and its deduction.
“How often is it our fate, in the West as in the East, to see in
bright eyes and to hear from rosy lips an implied, if not an expressed
‘Why don’t you buy me?’ or, worse still, ‘Why _can’t_ you buy me?’”
Footnote 471:
See vol. ii. 165 dragging or trailing the skirts = walking without the
usual strut or swagger: here it means assuming the humble manners of a
slave in presence of the master.
Footnote 472:
This is the Moslem form of “boycotting”: so amongst early Christians
they refused to give one another God-speed. Amongst Hindús it takes
the form of refusing “Hukkah (pipe) and water” which practically makes
a man an outcast. In the text the old man expresses the popular
contempt for those who borrow and who do not repay. He had evidently
not read the essay of Elia on the professional borrower.
Footnote 473:
See note p. 273.
Footnote 474:
_i.e._ the best kind of camels.
Footnote 475:
This first verse has occurred three times.
Footnote 476:
Arab. “Surayyá” in Dictionaries a dim. of Sarwá = moderately rich. It
may either denote abundance of rain or a number of stars forming a
constellation. Hence in Job (xxxviii. 31) it is called a heap (kímah).
Footnote 477:
Pleiads in Gr. the Stars whereby men sail.
Footnote 478:
This is the Eastern idea of the consequence of satisfactory coition
which is supposed to be the very seal of love. Westerns have run to
the other extreme.
Footnote 479:
“Al-Ríf” simply means lowland: hence there is a Ríf in the Nile-delta.
The word in Europe is applied chiefly to the Maroccan coast opposite
Gibraltar (not, as is usually supposed the North-Western seaboard)
where the Berber-Shilhá race, so famous as the “Rif pirates” still
closes the country to travellers.
Footnote 480:
_i.e._ Upper Egypt.
Footnote 481:
These local excellencies of coition are described jocosely rather than
anthropologically.
Footnote 482:
See vol. i. 223: I take from Torrens, p. 223.
Footnote 483:
For the complete ablution obligatory after copulation before prayers
can be said. See vol. vi. 199.
Footnote 484:
Arab. “Zunnár,” the Greek ζωνάριον, for which, see vol. ii. 215.
Footnote 485:
Miriam (Arabic Maryam), is a Christian name, in Moslem lands. Abú
Maryam “Mary’s father” (says Motarrazi on Al-Hariri, Ass. of
Alexandria) is a term of contempt, for men are called after sons
(_e.g._ Abu Zayd), not after daughters. In more modern authors Abu
Maryam is the name of ushers and lesser officials in the Kazi’s court.
Footnote 486:
This formality, so contrary to our Western familiarity after
possession, is an especial sign of good breeding amongst Arabs and
indeed all Eastern nations. It reminds us of the “grand manner” in
Europe two hundred years ago, not a trace of which now remains.
Footnote 487:
These lines are in Night i. ordered somewhat differently: so I quote
Torrens (p. 14).
Footnote 488:
_i.e._ to the return Salám—“And with thee be peace and the mercy of
Allah and His blessings!” See vol. ii. 146. The enslaved Princess had
recognised her father’s Wazir and knew that he could have but one
object, which being a man of wit and her lord a “raw laddie,” he was
sure to win.
Footnote 489:
It is quite in Moslem manners for the bystanders to force the sale
seeing a silly lad reject a most advantageous offer for sentimental
reasons. And the owner of the article would be bound by their consent.
Footnote 490:
Arab. “Wa’llahi.” “Bi” is the original particle of swearing, a Harf
al-jarr (governing the genitive as Bi’lláhi) and suggesting the idea
of adhesion: “Wa” (noting union) is its substitute in oath-formulæ and
“Ta” takes the place of Wa as Ta’lláhi. The three-fold forms are
combined in a great “swear.”
Footnote 491:
_i.e._ of divorcing their own wives.
Footnote 492:
These lines have occurred before: I quote Mr. Payne.
Footnote 493:
These lines are in Night xxvi., vol. i. 275: I quote Torrens (p. 277),
with a correction for “when ere.”
Footnote 494:
This should be “draws his senses from him as one pulls hairs out of
paste.”
Footnote 495:
Rághib and Záhid: see vol. v. 141.
Footnote 496:
Carolus Magnus then held court in Paris; but the text evidently
alludes to one of the port-cities of Provence as Marseille which we
English will miscall Marseilles.
Footnote 497:
Here the writer, not the young wife, speaks; but as a tale-teller he
says “hearer” not “reader.”
Footnote 498:
Kayrawán, the Arab. form of the Greek Cyrene which has lately been
opened to travellers and has now lost the mystery which enshrouded it.
In Hafiz and the Persian poets it is the embodiment of remoteness and
secrecy; as we till the last quarter century spoke of the “deserts of
Central Africa.”
Footnote 499:
Arab. “’Innín”: alluding to all forms of impotence, from dislike,
natural deficiency or fascination, the favourite excuse. Easterns
seldom attribute it to the true cause, weak action of the heart; but
the Romans knew the truth when they described one of its symptoms as
cold feet. “Clino-pedalis, ad venerem invalidus, ab ea antiqua
opinione, frigiditatem pedum concubituris admodum officere.” Hence St.
Francis and the bare-footed Friars. See Glossarium Eroticum Linguæ
Latinæ, Parisiis, Dondey-Dupré, MDCCCXXVI.
Footnote 500:
I have noted the use of “island” for “land” in general. So in the
European languages of the sixteenth century, insula was used for
peninsula, _e.g._ Insula de Cori = the Corean peninsula.
Footnote 501:
As has been noticed (vol. i. 333), the monocular is famed for mischief
and men expect the mischief to come from his blinded eye.
Footnote 502:
Here again we have a specimen of “inverted speech” (vol. ii. 265);
abusive epithets intended for a high compliment, signifying that the
man was a tyrant over rebels and a froward devil to the foe.
Footnote 503:
Arab. “Bab al-Bahr,” see vol. iii. 281.
Footnote 504:
Arab. “Batárikah” see vol. ii. 89. The Templars, Knights of Malta and
other orders half ecclesiastic half military suggested the application
of the term.
Footnote 505:
These lines have occurred in vol. i. 280—I quote Torrens (p. 283).
Footnote 506:
Maryam al-Husn containing a double entendre, “O place of the white doe
(Rím) of beauty!” The girl’s name was Maryam the Arab. form of Mary,
also applied to the B.V. by Eastern Christians. Hence a common name of
Syrian women is “Husn Maryam” = (one endowed with the spiritual
beauties of Mary: vol. iv. 87). I do not think that the name was
“manufactured by the Arab story-tellers after the pattern of their own
names (_e.g._ Nur al-Din or Noureddin, light of the faith, Tajeddin,
crown of faith, etc.) for the use of their imaginary Christian female
characters.”
Footnote 507:
I may here remind readers that the Bán, which some Orientalists will
write “Ben,” is a straight and graceful species of Moringa with
plentiful and intensely green foliage.
Footnote 508:
Arab. “Amúd al-Sawári” = the Pillar of Masts, which is still the local
name of Diocletian’s column absurdly named by Europeans “Pompey’s
Pillar.”
Footnote 509:
Arab. “Batiyah,” also used as a wine-jar (amphora), a flagon.
Footnote 510:
Arab. “Al-Kursán,” evidently from the Ital. “Corsaro,” a runner. So
the Port. “Cabo Corso,” which we have corrupted to “Cape Coast Castle”
(Gulf of Guinea), means the Cape of Tacking.
Footnote 511:
Arab. “Ghuráb,” which Europeans turn to “Grab.”
Footnote 512:
Arab. “Sayyib” (Thayyib) a rare word: it mostly applies to a woman who
leaves her husband after lying once with him.
Footnote 513:
Arab. “Batárikah:” here meaning knights, leaders of armed men as in
Night dccclxii., supra p. 256, it means “monks.”
Footnote 514:
_i.e._ for the service of a temporal monarch.
Footnote 515:
Arab. “Sayr” = a broad strip of leather still used by way of girdle
amongst certain Christian religions in the East.
Footnote 516:
Arab. “Haláwat al-Salámah,” the sweetmeats offered to friends after
returning from a journey or escaping sore peril. See vol. iv. 60.
Footnote 517:
So Eginhardt was an _Erzcapeilan_ and belonged to the ghostly
profession.
Footnote 518:
These lines are in vols. iii. 258 and iv. 204. I quote Mr. Payne.
Footnote 519:
Arab. “Firásah,” lit. = skill in judging of horse flesh (Faras) and
thence applied, like “Kiyáfah,” to physiognomy. One Kári was the first
to divine man’s future by worldly signs (Al-Maydáni, Arab. prov. ii.
132) and the knowledge was hereditary in the tribe Mashíj.
Footnote 520:
Reported to be a “Hadis” or saying of Mohammed, to whom are attributed
many such shrewd aphorisms, _e.g._ “Allah defend us from the ire of
the mild (tempered).”
Footnote 521:
These lines are in vol. i. 126. I quote Torrens (p. 120).
Footnote 522:
These lines have occurred before. I quote Mr. Payne.
Footnote 523:
Arab. “Khák-bák,” an onomatopœia like our flip-flap and a host of
similar words. This profaning a Christian Church which contained the
relics of the Virgin would hugely delight the coffee-house _habitués_,
and the Egyptians would be equally flattered to hear that the son of a
Cairene merchant had made the conquest of a Frankish Princess Royal.
That he was an arrant poltroon mattered very little, as his cowardice
only set off his charms.
Footnote 524:
_i.e._ after the rising up of the dead.
Footnote 525:
Arab. “Nafísah,” the precious one _i.e._ the Virgin.
Footnote 526:
Arab. “Nákús,” a wooden gong used by Eastern Christians which were
wisely forbidden by the early Moslems.
Footnote 527:
_i.e._ a graceful, slender youth.
Footnote 528:
There is a complicated pun in this line: made by splitting the word
after the fashion of punsters. “Zarbu ’l-Nawákísí = the striking of
the gongs, and “Zarbu ’l Nawà, Kísí = striking the departure signal:
decide thou” (fem. addressed to the Nafs, soul or self). I have
attempted a feeble imitation.
Footnote 529:
The modern Italian term for the venereal finish.
Footnote 530:
Arab. “Najm al-Munkazzi,” making the envious spy one of the prying
Jinns at whom is launched the Shiháb or shooting-star by the angels
who prevent them listening at the gates of Heaven. See vol. i. 224.
Footnote 531:
Arab. “Sandúk al-Nuzur,” lit. “the box of vowed oblations.” This act
of sacrilege would find high favour with the auditory.
Footnote 532:
The night consisting like the day of three watches. See vol. i.
Footnote 533:
Arab. “Al-Khaukhah,” a word now little used.
Footnote 534:
Arab. “Námúsiyah,” lit. mosquito curtains.
Footnote 535:
Arab. “Jáwashiyah,” see vol. ii. 49.
Footnote 536:
Arab. “Kayyimah,” the fem. of “Kayyim,” misprinted “Kayim” in vol. ii.
93.
Footnote 537:
_i.e._ hadst thou not disclosed thyself. He has one great merit in a
coward of not being ashamed for his cowardice; and this is a
characteristic of the modern Egyptian, whose proverb is, “_He ran
away, Allah shame him!_ is better than, _He was slain, Allah bless
him!_”
Footnote 538:
Arab. “Ahjar al-Kassárín” nor forgotten. In those days ships anchored
in the Eastern port of Alexandria which is now wholly abandoned on
account of the rocky bottom and the dangerous “Levanter,” which as the
Gibraltar proverb says
Makes the stones canter.
Footnote 539:
Arab. “Hakk” = rights, a word much and variously used. To express the
possessive “mine” a Badawi says “Hakki” (pron. Haggi) and “Lílí;” a
Syrian “Shítí” for Shayyati, my little thing or “taba’i” my dependent;
an Egyptian “Bitá’i” my portion and a Maghribi “M’tá’i” and “diyyáli”
(di allazí lí = this that is to me). Thus “mine” becomes a shibboleth.
Footnote 540: