priggism finds "unscientific," wonderfully derives this word from
Arab. "Khattáf," a snatcher (_i.e._ of women), a ravisher. It is an
evident corruption of "captivus" through Italian and French.
Footnote 205:
These periodical and fair-like visitations to convents are still
customary; especially amongst the Christians of Damascus.
Footnote 206:
Camphor being then unknown.
Footnote 207:
The "wrecker" is known all over the world; and not only barbarians
hold that ships driven ashore become the property of the shore.
Footnote 208:
Arab. "Jokh": it is not a dictionary word, but the only term in
popular use for European broadcloth.
Footnote 209:
The second person plural is used because the writer would involve the
subjects of his correspondent in the matter.
Footnote 210:
This part of the phrase, which may seem unnecessary to the European,
is perfectly intelligible to all Orientalists. You may read many an
Eastern letter and _not_ understand it. Compare Boccaccio iv. 1.
Footnote 211:
_i.e._, he was greatly agitated.
Footnote 212:
In text "_Li-ajal al-Taudí'a_," for the purpose of farewelling, a low
Egyptianism; emphatically a "Kalám wáti." (Pilgrimage iii. 330.)
Footnote 213:
In the Mac. Edit. Sharrkan speaks, a clerical error.
Footnote 214:
The Farsakh (Germ. Stunde) a measure of time rather than distance, is
an hour's travel or its equivalent, a league, a meile=three English
stat. miles. The word is still used in Persia its true home, but not
elsewhere. It is very old, having been determined as a lineal measure
of distance by Herodotus (ii. 5 and 6; v. 53), who computes it at 30
furlongs (=furrow-lengths, 8 to the stat. mile). Strabo (xi.) makes it
range from 40 to 60 stades (each=606 feet 9 inches); and even now it
varies between 1500 to 6,000 yards. Captain Francklin (Tour to Persia)
estimates it=about four miles. (Pilgrimage ii. 113.)
Footnote 215:
Arab. "Ashhab." Names of colours are few amongst semi-civilised
peoples, but in Arabia there is a distinct word for every shade of
horseflesh.
Footnote 216:
She had already said to him "Thou art beaten in everything!"
Footnote 217:
Showing that she was still a Christian.
Footnote 218:
This is not Badawi sentiment: the honoratioren amongst wild people
would scorn such foul play; but amongst the settled Arabs honour
between men and women is unknown; and such "hocussing" would be held
quite fair.
Footnote 219:
The table of wine, in our day, is mostly a japanned tray with glasses
and bottles, saucers of pickles and fruits and, perhaps, a bunch of
flowers and aromatic herbs. During the Caliphate the "wine-service"
was on a larger scale.
Footnote 220:
Here the "Bhang" (almost a generic term applied to hellebore, etc.)
may be hyoscyamus or henbane. Yet there are varieties of Cannabis,
such as the Dakha of South Africa, capable of most violent effect. I
found the use of the drug well known to the negroes of the Southern
United States and of the Brazil, although few of their owners had ever
heard of it.
Footnote 221:
Amongst Moslems this is a reference to Adam who first "sinned against
himself," and who therefore is called "Safíyu'llah," the Pure of Allah
(Pilgrimage iii. 333).
Footnote 222:
Meaning, an angry, violent man.
Footnote 223:
Arab. "Inshád," which may mean reciting the verse of another or
improvising one's own. In Modern Egypt "Munshid" is the singer or
reciter of poetry at Zikrs (Lane M. E. chapt. xxiv.). Here the verses
are quite bad enough to be improvised by the hapless Princess.
Footnote 224:
The negro skin assumes this dust-colour in cold, fear, concupiscence
and other mental emotions.
Footnote 225:
He compares her glance with the blade of a Yamani sword, a _lieu
commun_ of Eastern poetry. The weapons are famous in The Nights; but
the best sword-cutlery came from Persia as the porcelain from China to
Sana'á. Here, however, is especial allusion as to the sword "Samsam"
or "Samsamah." It belonged to the Himyarite Tobba, Amru bin Ma'ad
Kurb, and came into the hands of Harun al-Rashid. When the Emperor of
the Greeks sent a present of superior sword-blades to him by way of a
brave, the Caliph, in the presence of the Envoys, took "Samsam" in
hand and cut the others in twain as if they were cabbages without the
least prejudice to the edge of "Samsam."
Footnote 226:
This touch of pathos is truly Arab. So in the "Romance of Dalhamah"
(Lane, M. E. xxiii.) the infant Gundubah sucks the breast of its dead
mother and the King exclaims, "If she had committed this crime she
would not be affording the child her milk after she was dead."
Footnote 227:
Arab. Sadda'l-Aktár, a term picturesque enough to be preserved in
English. "Sadd," I have said, is a wall or dyke, the term applied to
the great dam of water-plants which obstructs the navigation of the
Upper Nile, the lilies and other growths floating with the current
from the (Victoria) Nyanza Lake. I may note that we need no longer
derive from India the lotus-lily so extensively used by the Ancient
Egyptians and so neglected by the moderns that it has well nigh
disappeared. All the Central African basins abound in the Nymphæa and
thence it found its way down the Nile-Valley.
Footnote 228:
Arab. "Al-Marhúmah": equivalent to our "late lamented."
Footnote 229:
Vulgarly pronounced "Mahmal," and by Egyptians and Turks "Mehmel."
Lane (M. E. xxiv.) has figured this queenly litter and I have sketched
and described it in my Pilgrimage (iii. 12).
Footnote 230:
For such fits of religious enthusiasm see my Pilgrimage (iii. 254).
Footnote 231:
"Irák" (Mesopotamia) means "a level country beside the banks of a
river."
Footnote 232:
"Al-Kuds," or "Bayt al-Mukaddas," is still the popular name of
Jerusalem, from the Heb. Yerushalaim ha-Kadushah (legend on shekel of
Simon Maccabeus).
Footnote 233:
"Follow the religion of Abraham" says the Koran (chapt. iii. 89).
Abraham, titled "Khalílu'llah," ranks next in dignity to Mohammed,
preceding Isa; I need hardly say that his tomb is not in Jerusalem nor
is the tomb itself at Hebron ever visited. Here Moslems (soi disant)
are allowed by the jealousies of Europe to close and conceal a place
which belongs to the world, especially to Jews and Christians. The
tombs, if they exist, lie in a vault or cave under the Mosque.
Footnote 234:
Abá, or Abá'ah, vulg. Abáyah, is a cloak of hair, goat's or camel's;
too well known to require description.
Footnote 235:
Arab. "Al-Wakkád;" the man who lights and keeps up the bath-fires.
Footnote 236:
Arab. "Má al-Khaláf"(or "Khiláf") a sickly perfume but much prized,
made from the flowers of the Salix Ægyptiaca.
Footnote 237:
Used by way of soap; like glasswort and other plants.
Footnote 238:
_i.e._, "Thou art only just recovered."
Footnote 239:
To "Nakh" is to gurgle "Ikh! Ikh!" till the camel kneels. Hence the
space called "Barr al-Manákhah" in Al-Medinah (Pilgrimage i. 222, ii.
91). There is a regular camel-vocabulary amongst the Arabs, made up
like our "Gee" (go ye!), etc. of significant words worn down.
Footnote 240:
Arab. "Laza," the Second Hell provided for Jews.
Footnote 241:
The word has been explained (vol. i. 112). It is trivial, not
occurring in the Koran which uses "Arabs of the Desert;" "Arabs who
dwell in tents," etc. (chapt. ix. and xxxiii.). "A'arábi" is the
classical word and the origin of "Arab" is disputed. According to
Pocock (Notæ Spec. Hist. Arab.): "Diverse are the opinions concerning
the denomination of the Arabs; but the most certain of all is that
which draws it from Arabah, which is part of the region of Tehamah,
(belonging to Al-Medinah, Pilgrimage ii. 118), which their father
Ismail afterwards inhabited." Tehamah (tierra caliente) is the
maritime region of Al-Hijaz, the Moslem's Holy Land; and its "Arabah,"
a very small tract which named a very large tract, must not be
confounded, as some have done, with the Wady Arabah, the ancient
outlet of the Dead Sea. The derivation of "Arab" from "Ya'arab" a
fancied son of Joktan is mythological. In Heb. Arabia may be called
"Eretz Ereb" (or "Arab")=land of the West; but in Arabic "Gharb" (not
Ereb) is the Occident and the Arab dates long before the Hebrew.
Footnote 242:
"When thine enemy extends his hand to thee, cut it off if thou can, or
kiss it," wisely said Caliph al-Mansúr.
Footnote 243:
The Tartur was a peculiar turban worn by the Northern Arabs and shown
in old prints. In modern Egypt the term is applied to the tall
sugar-loaf caps of felt affected mostly by regular Dervishes.
Burckhardt (Proverbs 194 and 398) makes it the high cap of felt or fur
proper to the irregular cavalry called Dely or Delaty. In Dar For
(Darfour) "Tartur" is a conical cap adorned with beads and cowries
worn by the Manghwah or buffoon who corresponds with the Egyptian
"Khalbús" or "Maskharah" and the Turkish "Sutari." For an illustration
see Plate iv. fig. 10 of Voyage au Darfour par Mohammed El-Tounsy (The
Tunisian), Paris, Duprat, 1845.
Footnote 244:
The term is picturesque and true; we say "gnaw" which is not so good.
Footnote 245:
Here, meaning an Elder, a Chief, etc.; the word has been almost
naturalised in English. I have noted that Abraham was the first
"Shaykh."
Footnote 246:
This mention of weighing suggests the dust of Dean Swift and the money
of the Gold Coast. It was done, I have said, because the gold coin,
besides being "sweated" was soft and was soon worn down.
Footnote 247:
Fem. of Nájí (a deliverer, a saviour)=Salvadora.
Footnote 248:
This, I have noted, is according to Koranic command (chapt. iv. 88).
"When you are saluted with a salutation, salute the person with a
better salutation." The longer answer to "Peace be with (or upon)
thee!" is still universally the custom. The "Salám" is so differently
pronounced by every Eastern nation that the observant traveller will
easily make of it a Shibboleth.
Footnote 249:
The Badawi, who was fool as well as rogue, begins to fear that he has
kidnapped a girl of family.
Footnote 250:
These examinations being very indecent are usually done in strictest
privacy. The great point is to make sure of virginity.
Footnote 251:
This is according to strict Moslem law: the purchaser may not look at
the girl's nakedness till she is his, and he ought to manage matters
through an old woman.
Footnote 252:
Lit. wrath; affliction which chokes; in Hindustani it means simply
anger.
Footnote 253:
_i.e._, Heaven forbid I be touched by a strange man.
Footnote 254:
Used for fuel and other purposes, such as making "Joss stick."
Footnote 255:
Arab. "Yaftah' Allah" the offer being insufficient. The rascal is
greedy as a Badawi and moreover he is a liar, which the Badawi is not.
Footnote 256:
The third of the four great Moslem schools of Theology, taking its
name from the Imam al-Sháfi'í (Mohammed ibn Idris) who died in Egypt
A.H. 204, and lies buried near Cairo (Sale's Prel. Disc. sect. viii.).
Footnote 257:
The Moslem form of Cabbala, or transcendental philosophy of the
Hebrews.
Footnote 258:
Arab. "Bakh" the word used by the Apostle to Ali his son-in-law. It is
the Latin "Euge."
Footnote 259:
Readers, who read for amusement, will do well to "skip" the fadaises
of this highly educated young woman.
Footnote 260:
There are three Persian Kings of this name (Artaxerxes) which means
"Flour and milk," or "high lion." The text alludes to Ardeshir
Babegan, so called because he married the daughter of Babak the
shepherd, founder of the Sassanides in A.D. 202. See D'Herbelot, and
the Dabistan.
Footnote 261:
Alluding to the proverb, "Folk follow their King's faith," "Cujus
regio ejus religio," etc.
Footnote 262:
Second Abbaside, A.H. 136-158 (=754-775).
Footnote 263:
The celebrated companion of Mohammed who succeeded Abu Bakr in the
Caliphate (A. H. 13-23=634-644). The Sunnis know him as Al-Adil, the
Just; and the Shiahs detest him for his usurpation, his austerity and
harshness. It is said that he laughed once, and wept once. The laugh
was caused by recollecting how he ate his dough-gods (the idols of the
Hanifah tribe) in The Ignorance. The tears were drawn by remembering
how he buried alive his baby daughter who, while the grave was being
dug, patted away the dust from his hair and beard. Omar was doubtless
a great man, but he is one of the most ungenial figures in Moslem
history which does not abound in genialities. To me he suggests a
Puritan, a Covenanter of the sourest and narrowest type; and I cannot
wonder that the Persians abhor him, and abuse him on all occasions.
Footnote 264:
The austere Caliph Omar whose scourge was more feared than the sword
was the author of the celebrated saying "Consult them (feminines) and
do clear contrary-wise." The dictum is illustrated by a dozen Joe
Millers known throughout the East.
Footnote 265:
Our "honour amongst thieves."
Footnote 266:
The sixth successor of Mohammed and founder of the Banu Umayyah or
Ommiades, called the "sons of the little mother" from their eponymus
(A.H. 41-60=661-680). For his Badawi wife Maysun, and her abuse of her
husband, see Pilgrimage iii. 262.
Footnote 267:
Shaykh of the noble tribe, or rather nation, Banu Tamím and a notable
of the day, surnamed, no one knows why, "Sire of the Sea."
Footnote 268:
This is essential for cleanliness in hot lands: however much the bath
may be used, the body-pile and lower hair, if submitted to a
microscope, will show more or less sordes adherent. The axilla-hair is
plucked because if shaved the growing pile causes itching and the
depilatories are held deleterious. At first vellication is painful but
the skin becomes used to it. The pecten is shaved either without or
after using depilatories, of which more presently. The body-pile is
removed by "Takhfíf"; the Libán Shámi (Syrian incense), a fir-gum
imported from Scio, is melted and allowed to cool in the form of a
pledget. This is passed over the face and all the down adhering to it
is pulled up by the roots (Burckhardt No. 420). Not a few
Anglo-Indians have adopted these precautions.
Footnote 269:
This Caliph was a tall, fair, handsome man of awe-inspiring aspect.
Omar used to look at him and say, "This is the Cæsar of the Arabs,"
while his wife called him a "fatted ass."
Footnote 270:
The saying is attributed to Abraham when "exercised" by the unkindly
temper of Sarah; "woman is made hard and crooked like a rib;" and the
modern addition is, "whoso would straighten her, breaketh her."
Footnote 271:
_i.e._, "When ready and in erection."
Footnote 272:
"And do first (before going in to your wives) some act which may be
profitable unto your souls"—or, for your soul's good. (Koran, chapt.
ii. 223.). Hence Ahnaf makes this prayer.
Footnote 273:
It was popularly said that "Truth-speaking left Omar without a
friend." Entitled "The Just" he was murdered by Abu Lúlúah, alias
Fírúz, a (Magian?) slave of Al-Maghírah for denying him justice.
Footnote 274:
Governor of Bassorah under the first four Caliphs. See D'Herbelot _s.
v._ "Aschári."
Footnote 275:
Ziyad bin Abi Sufyan, illegitimate brother of the Caliph Mu'awiyah
afterwards governor of Bassorah, Cufa and Al-Hijaz.
Footnote 276:
The seditions in Kufah were mainly caused by the wilful nepotism of
Caliph Othman bin Asákir which at last brought about his death. His
main quality seems to have been personal beauty: "never was seen man
or woman of fairer face than he and he was the most comely of men:" he
was especially famed for beautiful teeth which in old age he bound
about with gold wire. He is described as of middling stature,
large-limbed, broad shouldered, fleshy of thigh and long in the
fore-arm which was hairy. His face inclined to yellow and was
pock-marked; his beard was full and his curly hair, which he dyed
yellow, fell below his ears. He is called "writer of the Koran" from
his edition of the MS., and "Lord of the two Lights" because he
married two of the Prophet's daughters, Rukayyah and Umm Kulthum; and,
according to the Shi'ahs who call him Othman-i-Lang or "limping
Othman," he vilely maltreated them. They justify his death as the act
of an Ijmá' al-Muslimin, the general consensus of Moslems which
ratifies "Lynch law." Altogether Othman is a mean figure in history.
Footnote 277:
"Nár" (fire) is a word to be used delicately from its connection with
Gehenna. You say, _e.g._ "bring me a light, a coal (bassah)" etc.; but
if you say "bring me fire!" the enemy will probably remark "He wanteth
fire even before his time!" The slang expression would be "bring the
sweet:" (Pilgrimage i. 121.)
Footnote 278:
Omar is described as a man of fair complexion, and very ruddy, but he
waxed tawny with age, when he also became bald and grey. He had little
hair on the cheeks but a long mustachio with reddish ends. In stature
he overtopped the people and was stout as he was tall. A popular
saying of Mohammed's is, "All (very) long men are fools save Omar, and
all (very) short men are knaves save Ali." The Persians, who abhor
Omar, compare every lengthy, ungainly, longsome thing with him; they
will say, "This road never ends, like the entrails of Omar." We know
little about Ali's appearance except that he was very short and stout,
broad and full-bellied with a tawny complexion and exceedingly hairy,
his long beard, white as cotton filling all the space between his
shoulders. He was a "pocket-Hercules," and incredible tales, like that
about the gates of Khaybar, are told of his strength. Lastly, he was
the only Caliph who bequeathed anything to literature: his
"Cantiloquium" is famous and he has left more than one mystical and
prophetic work. See Ockley for his "Sentences" and D'Herbelot _s. v._
"Ali" and "Gebr." Ali is a noble figure in Moslem history.
Footnote 279:
The emancipation from the consequences of his sins; or it may mean a
holy death.
Footnote 280:
Battle fought near Al-Medinah A.D. 625. The word is derived from
"Ahad" (one). I have described the site in my Pilgrimage, vol. ii.
227.
Footnote 281:
"Haphsa" in older writers; Omar's daughter and one of Mohammed's
wives, famous for her connection with the manuscripts of the Koran.
From her were (or claimed to be) descended the Hafsites who reigned in
Tunis and extended their power far and wide over the Maghrib
(Mauritania), till dispossessed by the Turks.
Footnote 282:
_i.e._ humbly without the usual strut or swim: it corresponds with the
biblical walking or going softly (1 Kings xxi. 27; Isaiah xxxviii. 15,
etc.).
Footnote 283:
A theologian of the seventh and eighth centuries.
Footnote 284:
_i.e._ to prepare himself by good works, especially alms-giving, for
the next world.
Footnote 285:
A theologian of the eighth century.
Footnote 286:
Abd al-Aziz was eighth Ommiade (regn. A.H. 99=717) and the fifth of
the orthodox, famed for a piety little known to his house. His most
celebrated saying was, "Be constant in meditation on death: if thou be
in straitened case 'twill enlarge it, and if in affluence 'twill
straiten it upon thee." He died, poisoned, it is said, in A.H. 101.
Footnote 287:
Abu Bakr originally called Abd al-Ka'ahah (slave of the Ka'abah) took
the name of Abdullah and was surnamed Abu Bakr (father of the virgin)
when Mohammed, who before had married only widows, took to wife his
daughter, the famous or infamous Ayishah. "Bikr" is the usual form,
but "Bakr," primarily meaning a young camel, is metaphorically applied
to human youth (Lane's Lex. _s. v._). The first Caliph was a
cloth-merchant, like many of the Meccan chiefs. He is described as
very fair with bulging brow, deep-set eyes and thin-cheeked, of
slender build and lean-loined, stooping and with the backs of his
hands fleshless. He used tinctures of Henna and Katam for his beard.
The Persians who hate him, call him "Pir-i-Kaftár," the old she-hyæna,
and believe that he wanders about the deserts of Arabia in perpetual
rut which the males must satisfy.
Footnote 288:
The second, fifth, sixth and seventh Ommiades.
Footnote 289:
The mother of Omar bin Abd al-Aziz was a granddaughter of Omar bin
Al-Khattab.
Footnote 290:
Brother of this Omar's successor, Yezid II.
Footnote 291:
So the Turkish proverb "The fish begins to stink at the head."
Footnote 292:
Calling to the slaves.
Footnote 293:
When the "Day of Arafat" (9th of Zú'l-Hijjah) falls upon a Friday. For
this Hajj al-Akbar see my Pilgrimage iii. 226. It is often confounded
by writers (even by the learned M. Caussin de Perceval) with the
common Pilgrimage as opposed to the Umrah, or "Lesser Pilgrimage"
(ibid. iii. 342, etc.). The latter means etymologically cohabiting
with a woman in her father's house as opposed to 'Ars or leading her
to the husband's home: it is applied to visiting Meccah and going
through all the pilgrim-rites but not at the Pilgrimage-season. Hence
its title "Hajj al-Asghar" the "Lesser Hajj." But "Umrah" is also
applied to a certain ceremony between the hills Safá (a large hard
rock) and Marwah (stone full of flints), which accompanies the Hajj
and which I have described (ibid. iii. 344). At Meccah I also heard of
two places called Al-Umrah, the Greater in the Wady Fátimah and the
Lesser half way nearer the city (ibid. iii. 344).
Footnote 294:
A fair specimen of the unworthy egoism which all religious systems
virtually inculcate. Here a pious father leaves his children miserable
to save his own dirty soul.
Footnote 295:
Chief of the Banú Tamím, one of noblest of tribes derived from Tamím,
the uncle of Kuraysh (Koreish); hence the poets sang:—
There cannot be a son nobler than Kuraysh,
Nor an uncle nobler than Tamím.
The high-minded Tamím is contrasted with the mean-spirited Kays, who
also gave rise to a tribe; and hence the saying concerning one
absolutely inconsistent, "Art thou now Tamím and then Kays?"
Footnote 296:
Surnamed Al-Sakafí, Governor of Al-Yaman and Irak.
Footnote 297:
Tenth Ommiade (regn. A.H. 105-125=724-743).
Footnote 298:
Or "clothe thee in worn-out clothes" _i.e._ "Become a Fakir" or
religious mendicant.
Footnote 299:
This gratuitous incest in ignorance injures the tale and is as
repugnant to Moslem as to Christian taste.
Footnote 300:
The child is named either on the day of its birth or on that day week.
The father whispers it in the right ear, often adding the Azán or
prayer-call, and repeating in the left ear the "Ikámah" or Friday
sentence. There are many rules for choosing names according to the
week-day, the ascendant planet, the "Sortes Coranicæ," etc.
Footnote 301:
Amongst Moslems as amongst Christians there are seven deadly sins:
idolatry, murder, falsely charging modest women with unchastity,
robbing orphans, usury, desertion in Holy War and disobedience to
parents. The difference between the two creeds is noteworthy. And the
sage knows only three, intemperance, ignorance and egoism.
Footnote 302:
Meaning, "It was decreed by Destiny; so it came to pass," appropriate
if not neat.
Footnote 303:
The short, stout, dark, long-haired and two bunched camel from
"Bukhtar" (Bactria), the "Eastern" (Bakhtar) region on the Amu or
Jayhún (Oxus) River; afterwards called Khorasan. The two-humped camel
is never seen in Arabia except with northern caravans, and to speak of
it would be a sore test of Badawi credulity.
Footnote 304:
"Kaylúlah" is the "forty-winks" about noon: it is a Sunnat or Practice
of the Prophet who said, "Make the mid-day siesta, for verily at this
hour the devils sleep not." "Aylúlah" is slumbering after morning
prayers (our "beauty-sleep"), causing heaviness and idleness:
"Ghaylúlah" is dozing about 9 a.m. engendering poverty and
wretchedness: "Kaylúlah" (with the guttural Kaf) is sleeping before
evening prayers and "Faylúlah" is slumbering after sunset—both held to
be highly detrimental. (Pilgrimage ii. 49.)
Footnote 305:
The Biblical "Hamath" (Hightown) too well known to require
description. It is still famous for the water-wheels mentioned by
al-Hariri (assembly of the Banu Harám).
Footnote 306: