Alexandrian damsels rare! * Daintily o'er the floor ye fare: Your lips
are sweet, are sugar-sweet, * And purfled Cashmere shawls ye wear!
It may be noted that "humming" is not a favourite practice with
Moslems; if one of the company begin, another will say, "Go to the
Kahwah" (the coffee-house, the proper music-hall) "and sing there!" I
have elsewhere observed their dislike to Al-sifr or whistling.
[FN#625] Arab. Khalí'a = worn out, crafty, an outlaw; used like Span.
"Perdido."
[FN#626] "Zabbál" is the scavenger, lit. a dung-drawer, especially for
the use of the Hammam which is heated with the droppings of animals.
"Wakkád" (stoker) is the servant who turns the fire. The verses are
mere nonsense to suit the Barber's humour.
[FN#627] Arab. "Yá bárid" = O fool.
[FN#628] This form of blessing is chanted from the Minaret about
half-an-hour before midday, when the worshippers take their places in
the mosque. At noon there is the usual Azán or prayer-call, and each
man performs a two-bow, in honour of the mosque and its gathering, as
it were. The Prophet is then blessed and a second Salám is called from
the raised ambo or platform (dikkah) by the divines who repeat the
midday-call. Then an Imam recites the first Khutbah, or sermon "of
praise"; and the congregation worships in silence. This is followed by
the second exhortation "of Wa'az," dispensing the words of wisdom. The
Imam now stands up before the Mihráb (prayer niche) and recites the
Ikámah which is the common Azan with one only difference: after "Hie ye
to salvation" it adds "Come is the time of supplication;" whence the
name, "causing" (prayer) "to stand" (i.e., to begin). Hereupon the
worshippers recite the Farz or Koran commanded noon-prayer of Friday;
and the unco' guid add a host of superogatories Those who would study
the subject may consult Lane (M. E. chapt. iii. and its abstract in his
"Arabian Nights," I, p. 430, or note 69 to chapt. v.).
[FN#629] i.e., the women loosed their hair; an immodesty sanctioned
only by a great calamity.
[FN#630] These small shops are composed of a "but" and a "ben."
(Pilgrimage i., 99.)
[FN#631] Arab. "Kawwád," a popular term of abuse; hence the Span. and
Port. "Alco-viteiro." The Italian "Galeotto" is from Galahalt, not
Galahad.
[FN#632] i.e., "one seeking assistance in Allah." He was the son of
Al-Záhir bi'lláh (one pre-eminent by the decree of Allah). Lane says
(i. 430), "great-grandson of Harun al-Rashid," alluding to the first
Mustansir son of Al-Mutawakkil (regn. A.H. 247-248 =861-862). But this
is the 56th Abbaside and regn. A. H. 623-640 (= 1226-1242).
[FN#633] Arab. "Yaum al-Id," the Kurban Bairam of the Turks, the
Pilgrimage festival. The story is historical. In the "Akd," a
miscellany compiled by Ibn Abd Rabbuh (vulg. Rabbi-hi) of Cordova, who
ob. A. H. 328 = 940 we read:—A sponger found ten criminals and followed
them, imagining they were going to a feast; but lo, they were going to
their deaths! And when they were slain and he remained, he was brought
before the Khalifah (Al Maamun) and Ibrahim son of Al-Mahdi related a
tale to procure pardon for the man, whereupon the Khalifah pardoned
him. (Lane ii., 506.)
[FN#634] Arab. "Nata' al-Dam"; the former word was noticed in the Tale
of the Bull and the Ass. The leather of blood was not unlike the Sufrah
and could be folded into a bag by a string running through rings round
the edges. Moslem executioners were very expert and seldom failed to
strike off the head with a single blow of the thin narrow blade with
razor-edge, hard as diamond withal, which contrasted so strongly with
the great coarse chopper of the European headsman.
[FN#635] The ground floor, which in all hot countries is held, and
rightly so, unwholesome during sleep, is usually let for shops. This is
also the case throughout Southern Europe, and extends to the Canary
Islands and the Brazil.
[FN#636] This serious contemplation of street-scenery is one of the
pleasures of the Harems.
[FN#637] We should say "smiled at him": the laugh was not intended as
an affront.
[FN#638] Arab. "Fals ahmar." Fals is a fish-scale, also the smaller
coin and the plural "Fulús" is the vulgar term for money (= Ital.
quattrini ) without specifying the coin. It must not be confounded with
the "Fazzah," alias "Nuss," alias "Páráh" (Turk.); the latter being
made, not of "red copper" but of a vile alloy containing, like the
Greek "Asper," some silver; and representing, when at par, the fortieth
of a piastre, the latter=2d. 2/5ths.
[FN#639] Arab "Farajiyah " a long-sleeved robe; Lane's "Farageeyeh,"
(M. E., chapt. i)
[FN#640] The tailor in the East, as in Southern Europe, is made to cut
out the cloth in presence of its owner, to prevent "cabbaging."
[FN#641] Expecting a present.
[FN#642] Alluding to the saying, "Kiss is the key to Kitty."
[FN#643] The "panel-dodge" is fatally common throughout the East, where
a man found in the house of another is helpless.
[FN#644] This was the beginning of horseplay which often ends in a
bastinado.
[FN#645] Hair-dyes, in the East, are all of vegetable matter, henna,
indigo-leaves, galls, etc.: our mineral dyes are, happily for them,
unknown. Herklots will supply a host of recipes The Egyptian mixture
which I quoted in Pilgrimage (ii., 274) is sulphate of iron and
ammoniure of iron one part and gall nuts two parts, infused in eight
parts of distilled water. It is innocuous but very poor as a dye.
[FN#646] Arab. Amrad, etymologically "beardless and handsome," but
often used in a bad sense, to denote an effeminate, a catamite.
[FN#647] The Hindus prefer "having the cardinal points as her sole
garment." "Vêtu de climat," says Madame de Stael. In Paris nude statues
are "draped in cerulean blue." Rabelais (iv.,29) robes King Shrovetide
in grey and gold of a comical cut, nothing before, nothing behind, with
sleeves of the same.
[FN#648] This scene used to be enacted a few years ago in Paris for the
benefit of concealed spectators, a young American being the victim. It
was put down when one of the lookers-on lost his eye by a pen-knife
thrust into the "crevice."
[FN#649] Meaning that the trick had been played by the Wazir's wife or
daughter. I could mention sundry names at Cairo whose charming owners
have done worse things than this unseemly frolic.
[FN#650] Arab. "Shayyun li'lláhi," a beggar's formula = per amor di
Dio.
[FN#651] Noting how sharp-eared the blind become.
[FN#652] The blind in Egypt are notorious for insolence and violence,
fanaticism and rapacity. Not a few foreigners have suffered from them
(Pilgrimage i., 148). In former times many were blinded in infancy by
their mothers, and others blinded themselves to escape conscription or
honest hard work. They could always obtain food, especially as
Mu'ezzins and were preferred because they could not take advantage of
the minaret by spying into their neighbours' households. The Egyptian
race is chronically weak-eyed, the effect of the damp hot climate of
the valley, where ophthalmia prevailed even during the pre-Pharaohnic
days. The great Sesostris died stone-blind and his successor lost his
sight for ten years (Pilgrimage ii., 176). That the Fellahs are now
congenitally weak-eyed, may be seen by comparing them with negroes
imported from Central Africa. Ophthalmia rages, especially during the
damp season, in the lower Nile-valley; and the best cure for it is a
fortnight's trip to the Desert where, despite glare, sand and wind, the
eye readily recovers tone.
[FN#653] i.e., with kicks and cuffs and blows, as is the custom.
(Pilgrimage i., 174.)
[FN#654] Arab. Káid (whence "Alcayde") a word still much used in North
Western Africa.
[FN#655] Arab. "Sullam" = lit. a ladder; a frame-work of sticks, used
by way of our triangles or whipping-posts.
[FN#656] This is one of the feats of Al-Símiyá = white magic;
fascinating the eyes. In Europe it has lately taken the name of
"Electro-biology."
[FN#657] again by means of the "Símiyá" or power of fascination
possessed by the old scoundrel.
[FN#658] A formula for averting "Al-Ayn," the evil eye. It is always
unlucky to meet a one-eyed man, especially the first thing in the
morning and when setting out on any errand. The idea is that the
fascinated one will suffer from some action of the physical eye.
Monoculars also are held to be rogues: so the Sanskrit saying "Few
one-eyed men be honest men."
[FN#659] Al-Nashshár from Nashr = sawing: so the fiddler in Italian is
called the "village-saw" (Sega del villaggio). He is the Alnaschar of
the Englished Galland and Richardson. The tale is very old. It appears
as the Brahman and the Pot of Rice in the Panchatantra; and Professor
Benfey believes (as usual with him) that this, with many others,
derives from a Buddhist source. But I would distinctly derive it from
Æsop's market-woman who kicked over her eggs, whence the Lat. prov.
Ante victoriam canere triumphum = to sell the skin before you have
caught the bear. In the "Kalilah and Dimnah" and its numerous offspring
it is the "Ascetic with his Jar of oil and honey;" in Rabelais (i., 33)
Echephron's shoemaker spills his milk, and so La Perette in La
Fontaine. See M. Max Muller's "Chips," (vol. iii., appendix) The
curious reader will compare my version with that which appears at the
end of Richardson's Arabic Grammar (Edit. Of 1811): he had a better, or
rather a fuller MS. (p. 199) than any yet printed.
[FN#660] Arab. "Atr" = any perfume, especially oil of roses; whence our
word "Ottar,' through the Turkish corruption.
[FN#661] The texts give "dirhams" (100,000 = 5,000 dinars) for
"dinars," a clerical error as the sequel shows.
[FN#662] "Young slaves," says Richardson, losing "colour."
[FN#663] Nothing more calculated to give affront than such a refusal.
Richardson (p. 204) who, however, doubts his own version (p. 208), here
translates, "and I will not give liberty to my soul (spouse) but in her
apartments." The Arabic, or rather Cairene, is, "wa lá akhalli rúhi" I
will not let myself go, i.e., be my everyday self, etc.
[FN#664] "Whilst she is in astonishment and terror." (Richardson.)
[FN#665] "Chamber of robes," Richardson, whose text has "Nám" for
"Manám."
[FN#666] "Till I compleat her distress," Richardson, whose text is
corrupt.
[FN#667] "Sleep by her side," R. the word "Náma" bearing both senses.
[FN#668] "Will take my hand," R. "takabbal" being also ambiguous.
[FN#669] Arab. "Mu'arras" one who brings about "'Ars," marriages, etc.
So the Germ. = "Kupplerinn" a Coupleress. It is one of the many
synonyms for a pimp, and a word in general use (Pilgrimage i., 276).The
most insulting term, like Dayyús, insinuates that the man panders for
his own wife.
[FN#670] Of hands and face, etc. See Night cccclxiv.
[FN#671] Arab. "Sadakah" (sincerity), voluntary or superogatory alms,
opposed to "Zakát" (purification), legal alms which are indispensable.
"Prayer carries us half way to Allah, fasting brings us to the door of
His palace and alms deeds (Sadakah) cause us to enter." For "Zakát" no
especial rate is fixed, but it should not be less than one-fortieth of
property or two and a half per cent. Thus Al-lslam is, as far as I
know, the only faith which makes a poor-rate (Zakát) obligatory and
which has invented a property-tax, as opposed the unjust and unfair
income-tax upon which England prides herself.
[FN#672] A Greek girl.
[FN#673] This was making himself very easy; and the idea is that the
gold in the pouch caused him to be so bold. Lane's explanation (in
loco) is all wrong. The pride engendered by sudden possession of money
is a lieu commun amongst Eastern story tellers; even in the
beast-fables the mouse which has stolen a few gold pieces becomes
confident and stout-hearted.
[FN#674] Arab. "al-Málihah" also means the beautiful (fem.) from
Milh=salt, splendour, etc., the Mac edit. has "Mumallihah" = a
salt-vessel.
[FN#675] i.e., to see if he felt the smart.
[FN#676] Arab. "Sardábeh" (Persian)=an underground room used for
coolness in the hot season. It is unknown in Cairo but every house in
Baghdad, in fact throughout the Mesopotamian cities, has one. It is on
the principle of the underground cellar without which wine will not
keep: Lane (i., 406) calls it a "vault".
[FN#677] In the orig. "O old woman!" which is insulting.
[FN#678] So the Italians say "a quail to skin."
[FN#679] "Amán" is the word used for quarter on the battle-field; and
there are Joe Millers about our soldiers in India mistaking it for "a
man" or (Scottice) "a mon."
[FN#680] Illustrating the Persian saying "Allah himself cannot help a
fool."
[FN#681] Any article taken from the person and given to a criminal is a
promise of pardon, of course on the implied condition of plenary
confession and of becoming "King's evidence."
[FN#682] A naïve proposal to share the plunder.
[FN#683] In popular literature "Schacabac.", And from this tale comes
our saying "A Barmecide's Feast," i.e., an illusion.
[FN#684] The Castrato at the door is still (I have said) the fashion of
Cairo and he acts "Suisse" with a witness.
[FN#685] As usual in the East, the mansion was a hollow square
surrounding what in Spain is called Patio: the outer entrance was far
from the inner, showing the extent of the grounds.
[FN#686] "Nahnu málihín" = we are on terms of salt, said and say the
Arabs. But the traveller must not trust in these days to the once
sacred tie; there are tribes which will give bread with one hand and
stab with the other. The Eastern use of salt is a curious contrast with
that of Westerns, who made it an invidious and inhospitable
distinction, e.g., to sit above the salt-cellar and below the salt.
Amongst the ancients, however, "he took bread and salt" means he swore,
the food being eaten when an oath was taken. Hence the "Bride cake" of
salt, water and flour.
[FN#687] Arab. "Harísah," the meat-pudding before explained.
[FN#688] Arab. "Sikbáj," before explained; it is held to be a lordly
dish, invented by Khusraw Parwiz. "Fatted duck" says the Bresl. Edit.
ii., 308, with more reason.
[FN#689] I was reproved in Southern Abyssinia for eating without this
champing, "Thou feedest like a beggar who muncheth silently in his
corner;" and presently found that it was a sign of good breeding to eat
as noisily as possible.
[FN#690] Barley in Arabia is, like our oats, food for horses: it
fattens at the same time that it cools them. Had this been known to our
cavalry when we first occupied Egypt in 1883-4 our losses in
horse-flesh would have been far less; but official ignorance persisted
in feeding the cattle upon heating oats and the riders upon beef, which
is indigestible, instead of mutton, which is wholesome.
[FN#691] i.e. "I conjure thee by God."
[FN#692] i.e. "This is the very thing for thee."
[FN#693] i.e., at random.
[FN#694] This is the way of slaughtering the camel, whose throat is
never cut on account of the thickness of the muscles. "Égorger un
chameau" is a mistake often made in French books.
[FN#695] i.e. I will break bounds.
[FN#696] The Arabs have a saying corresponding with the dictum of the
Salernitan school:—
Noscitur a labiis quantum sit virginis antrum:
Noscitur a naso quanta sit hasta viro;
(A maiden's mouth shows what's the make of her _chose;_
And man's mentule one knows by the length of his nose.)