name being derived from the old Egyptian Minat-ro-hinnu, the port at
the mouth of the canal. Let me remark that two of these three words,
"Minat" and "Ru," are still common in "Aryan" Persian.
Footnote 416:
Kirámat, a sign, a prodigy, opposed to Mu'ujizah, a miracle wrought by
a prophet. The Súfis explain this thaumaturgy by Allah changing
something of Nature's ordinary course in favour of an especial
worshipper; and, after a fashion, this is Catholic doctrine (See
Dabistan, iii. 173).
Footnote 417:
Koran, x. 25, "until the earth receive its vesture and be adorned with
various plants."
Footnote 418:
_i.e._ the young hair sprouting on the boy's cheek.
Footnote 419:
A fighter for the faith and now a title which follows the name, _e.g._
Osmán Páshá Gházi, whom the English press dubbed "Gházi Osmán."
Footnote 420:
That is the King of Constantinople.
Footnote 421:
Cassia fistularis, a kind of carob: "Shambar" is the Arab. form of the
Persian "Chambar."
Footnote 422:
Koran, ii. 149. Hence the vulgar idea that Martyrs are still alive in
the flesh. See my Pilgrimage (ii. 110 and elsewhere) for the romantic
and picturesque consequences of that belief. The Commentators (Jalál
al-Dín, etc.) play tricks with the Koranic words, "they (martyrs) are
not dead but living" (iii. 179) by placing the happy souls in the
crops of green birds which eat of the fruits and drink of the waters
of Paradise; whereas the reprobates and the (very) wicked are
deposited in black birds which drain the sanies and the boiling waters
of Hell. Amongst the Greeks a body remaining entire long after death
suggests Anathema Maranatha: it is the contrary with Catholic
Christians (Boccaccio iv. 5, of the Pot of Basil). Concerning this
creed see Maundrell, Letter of 1698.
Footnote 423:
Tor is "Mount Sinai" in the Koran (xcv. I). I have only to repeat my
opinion concerning the present site so called: "It is evident that
Jebel Serbal dates only from the early days of Coptic Christianity;
that Jebel Musa, its Greek rival, rose after the visions of Helena in
the fourth century; whilst the building of the Convent by Justinian
belongs to A.D. 527. Ras Safsáfah, its rival to the north, is an
affair of yesterday, and may be called the invention of Robinson; and
Jebel Katerina, to the South is the property of Rüppell" (Midian
Revisited i., 237.). I would therefore call the "Sinaitic" Peninsula,
Peninsula of Paran in old days and Peninsula of Tor (from its chief
port) in our time. It is still my conviction that the true Mount Sinai
will be found in Jabal Aráif, or some such unimportant height to the
north of the modern Hajj-road from Suez to Akabah. Even about the name
(which the Koran writes "Sainá" and "Sínín") there is a dispute: It is
usually derived from the root "Sanah"=sentis, a bush; but this is not
satisfactory. Our eminent Assyriologist, Professor Sayce, would
connect it with "Sin," the Assyrian Moon-god, as Mount Nebo with the
Sun-god and he expects to find there the ruins of a Lunar temple as a
Solar fane stands on Ba'al Zapuna (Baal Zephon) or the classical Mount
Casius.
Footnote 424:
Alluding to the miracle of Aaron's rod (the gift of Jethro) as related
in the Koran (chapts. vii. I., xx., etc.), where the Egyptian
sorcerers threw down thick ropes which by their magic twisted and
coiled like serpents.
Footnote 425:
Arab. "Ayát" lit. "signs," here "miracles of the truth," l.c. Koranic
versets as opposed to chapters. The ranks of the enemy represent the
latter, sword-cuts the former—a very persuasive mode of preaching.
Footnote 426:
Lane (M. E. chapt. iii.) shows by a sketch the position of the
worshipper during this "Salám" which is addressed, some say, to the
guardian angels, others suppose to all brother-believers and angels.
Footnote 427:
_i.e._, where the Syrians found him.
Footnote 428:
_i.e._, Dedianus Arabised; a name knightly and plebeian.
Footnote 429:
In such tales the Wazir is usually the sharp-witted man, contrasting
with the "dummy," his master.
Footnote 430:
Carrier-pigeons were extensively used at this time. The Caliph
Al-Násir li-Díni 'llah (regn. A. H. 575=1180) was, according to Ibn
Khaldún, very fond of them. The moderns of Damascus still affect them.
My successor, Mr. Consul Kirby Green, wrote an excellent report on
pigeon-fancying at Damascus. The so-called Maundeville or Mandeville
in A.D. 1322 speaks of carrier-pigeons in Syria as a well-known mode
of intercourse between lord and lord.
Footnote 431:
Mohammed who declared "There is no monkery in Al-Islam," and who
virtually abolished the priest, had an especial aversion to the
shaveling (Ruhbán). But the "Gens æterna in quâ nemo nascitur" (Pliny
v. 17) managed to appear even in Al-Islam, as Fakirs, Dervishes,
Súfis, etc. Of this more hereafter.
Footnote 432:
_i.e._ her holiness would act like a fascinating talisman.
Footnote 433:
The "smoking out" practice is common amongst the Arabs: hence Marshal
Pelissier's so-called "barbarity." The Public is apt to forget that on
a campaign the general's first duty is to save his own men by any
practice which the laws of fair warfare do not absolutely forbid.
Footnote 434:
_i.e._, Mohammed, who promised Heaven and threatened Hell.
Footnote 435:
Arab. "Ahr" or "ihr," fornication or adultery, _i.e._, irreligion,
infidelity as amongst the Hebrews. (Isaiah xxiii. 17).
Footnote 436:
A sign of defeat.
Footnote 437:
In English "last night": I have already noted that the Moslem day,
like the Jewish and the Scandinavian, begins at sundown; and "layl," a
night, is often used to denote the twenty-four hours between sunset
and sunset, whilst "yaum," a day, would by us be translated in many
cases "battle-day."
Footnote 438:
Iterum the "Himalayan Brothers."
Footnote 439:
Again, Mohammed who promised Good to the Good, and _vice versâ_.
Footnote 440:
They are sad doggrel like most of the _pièces d'occasion_ inserted in
The Nights.
Footnote 441:
Here "Kahwah" (coffee) is used in its original sense of strong old
wine. The derivation is "Akhá"=fastidire fecit, causing disinclination
for food, the Matambre (kill-hunger) of the Iberians. In old days the
scrupulous called coffee "Kihwah" in order to distinguish it from
"Kahwah," wine.
Footnote 442:
_i.e._ Mohammed, a common title.
Footnote 443:
That is, fatal to the scoffer and the impious.
Footnote 444:
Equivalent to our "The Devil was sick," etc.
Footnote 445:
_i.e._ to the enemy: the North American Indians (so called) use
similar forms of "inverted speech"; and the Australian aborigines are
in no way behind them.
Footnote 446:
See Vol. i., p. 154 (Night xvi.).
Footnote 447:
Arab. "Sauf," a particle denoting a near future whereas "Sa-" points
to one which may be very remote.
Footnote 448:
From the root "Shauh"=having a fascinating eye, terrifying. The Irish
call the fascinater "eybitter" and the victim (who is also rhymed to
death) "eybitten."
Footnote 449:
_i.e._, not like the noble-born, strong in enduring the stress of
fight.
Footnote 450:
_i.e._, of Abraham. For the Well Zemzem and the Place of Abraham, see
my Pilgrimage (iii. 171-175, etc.), where I described the water as of
salt-bitter taste, like that of Epsom (iii. 203). Sir William Muir (in
his excellent life of Mahomet, I. cclviii.) remarks that "the flavour
of stale water bottled up for months would not be a criterion of the
same water freshly drawn;" but soldered tins-full of water drawn a
fortnight before are to be had in Calcutta and elsewhere after
Pilgrimage time; and analysis would at once detect the salt.
Footnote 451:
Racing was and is a favourite pastime with those hippomanists, the
Arabs; but it contrasts strongly with our civilised form being a trial
of endurance rather than of speed. The Prophet is said to have limited
betting in these words, "There shall be no wagering save on the Khuff
(camel's foot), the Hafir (hoof of horse, ass, etc.) or the Nasal
(arrow-pile or lance head)."
Footnote 452:
In the Mac. Edit. "Arman"=Armenia, which has before occurred. The
author or scribe here understands by "Cæsarea" not the old Turris
Stratonis, Herod's city called after Augustus, but Cæsareia the
capital of Cappadocia (Pliny, vi. 3), the royal residence before
called Mazaca (Strabo).
Footnote 453:
An idiom meaning "a very fool."
Footnote 454:
_i.e._ Kána (was) má (that which) was (kána).
Footnote 455:
A son being "the lamp of a dark house."
Footnote 456:
When the Israelites refused to receive the Law (the souls of all the
Prophets even those unborn being present at the Covenant), Allah tore
up the mountain (Sinai which is not mentioned) by the roots and shook
it over their heads to terrify them, saying, "Receive the Law which we
have given you with a resolution to keep it" (Koran chapt. xlx. 170).
Much of this story is from the Talmud (Abodah Sar. 2, 2, Tract
Sabbath, etc.) whence Al-Islam borrowed so much of its Judaism, as it
took Christianity from the Apocryphal New Testament. This tradition is
still held by the Israelites, says Mr. Rodwell (p. 333) who refers it
to a misunderstanding of Exod. xix. 17, rightly rendered in the E.
version "at the nether part of the mountain."
Footnote 457:
Arab. "Azghán"=the camel-litters in which women travel.
Footnote 458:
_i.e._ to joy foes and dismay friends.
Footnote 459:
Whose eyes became white (_i.e._ went blind) with mourning for his son
Joseph (Koran, chapt. xii. 84). He recovered his sight when his face
was covered with the shirt which Gabriel had given to the youth after
his brethren had thrown him into the well.
Footnote 460:
"Poison King" (Persian); or "Flower-King" (Arabic).
Footnote 461:
A delicate allusion to the size of her hips and back parts, in which
volume is, I have said, greatly admired for the best of reasons.
Footnote 462:
All Prophets had some manual trade and that of David was making coats
of mail, which he invented, for before his day men used plate-armour.
So "Allah softened the iron for him" and in his hands it became like
wax (Koran xxi., xxxiv., etc.). Hence a good coat of mail is called
"Davidean." I have noticed (First Footsteps, p. 33 and elsewhere) the
homage paid to the blacksmith on the principle which made Mulciber
(Malik Kabir) a god. The myth of David inventing mail possibly arose
from his peculiarly fighting career. Moslems venerate Dáúd on account
of his extraordinary devotion; nor has this view of his character
ceased: a modern divine preferred him to "all characters in history."
Footnote 463:
"Travel by Night," said the Prophet, "when the plagues of earth
(scorpions, serpents, etc.) afflict ye not." Yet the night-march in
Arabia is detestable (Pilgrimage iii.)
Footnote 464:
This form of ceremony is called "Istikbál" (coming forth to greet) and
is regulated by the severest laws of etiquette. As a rule the greater
the distance (which may be a minimum of one step) the higher the
honour. Easterns infinitely despise strangers who ignore these vitals
of politeness.
Footnote 465:
_i.e._ he will be a desert Nimrod and the game will delight to be
killed by him.
Footnote 466:
This serves to keep the babe's eyes free from inflammation.
Footnote 467:
_i.e._ Crown of the Kings of amorous Blandishment.
Footnote 468:
Lane (i. 531) translates "the grey down." The Arabs use "Akhzar"
(prop. "green") in many senses, fresh, grey-hued, etc.
Footnote 469:
Allusion to the well-known black banners of the house of Abbas. The
Persians describe the growth of hair on a fair young face by, "His
cheeks went into mourning for the loss of their charms."
Footnote 470:
Arab. "Káfir" a Koranic word meaning Infidel, the active participle of
Kufr=Infidelity _i.e._ rejecting the mission of Mohammed. It is
insulting and in Turkish has been degraded to "Giaour." Here it means
black, as Hafiz of Shiraz terms a cheek-mole "Hindu" _i.e._
dark-skinned and idolatrous.
Footnote 471:
Alluding to the travel of Moses (Koran chapt. xviii.) with Al-Khizr
(the "evergreen Prophet") who had drunk of the Fountain of Life and
enjoyed flourishing and continual youth. Moses is represented as the
external and superficial religionist; the man of outsight; Al-Khizr as
the spiritual and illuminated man of insight.
Footnote 472:
The lynx was used like the lion in Ancient Egypt and the Chita-leopard
in India: I have never seen or heard of it in these days.
Footnote 473:
Arab. "Sukúr," whence our "Saker" the falcon, not to be confounded
with the old Falco Sacer, the Gr. ἱέραξ. Falconry which, like all
arts, began in Egypt, is an extensive subject throughout Moslem lands.
I must refer my readers to "Falconry in the Valley of the Indus" (Van
Voorst, 1852) and a long note in Pilgrimage iii. 71.
Footnote 474:
It was not respectful to pitch their camp within dog-bark.
Footnote 475:
Easterns attach great importance to softness and smoothness of skin
and they are right: a harsh rough epidermis spoils sport with the
handsomest woman.
Footnote 476:
Canticles vii. 8: Hosea xiv. 6.
Footnote 477:
The mesmeric attraction of like to like.
Footnote 478:
Arab. "Taswif"=saying "Sauf," I will do it soon. It is a beautiful
word—etymologically.
Footnote 479:
A very far-fetched allusion. The face of the beloved springing from an
unbuttoned robe is the moon rising over the camp in the hollow (_bat'
há_).
Footnote 480:
Arab. "Kasabát"="canes," long beads, bugles.
Footnote 481:
Koran, xcvi. 5.
Footnote 482:
Both words (masc. and fem.) mean "dear, excellent, highly-prized." The
tale is the Arab form of the European "Patient Griselda" and shows a
higher conception of womanly devotion, because Azizah, despite her
wearisome weeping, is a girl of high intelligence and Aziz is a
vicious zany, weak as water and wilful as wind. The phenomenon (not
rare in life) is explained by the couplet:—
I love my love with an S—
Because he is stupid and not intellectual.
This fond affection of clever women for fools can be explained only by
the law of unlikeness which mostly governs sexual unions in physical
matters; and its appearance in the story gives novelty and point. Aziz
can plead only the violence of his passion which distinguished him as
a lover among the mob of men who cannot love anything beyond
themselves. And none can pity him for losing a member which he so much
abused.
Footnote 483:
Arab. "Sháhid," the _index_, the pointer raised in testimony: the
comparison of the Eastern and the Western names is curious.
Footnote 484:
Musk is one of the perfumes of the Moslem Heaven; and "musky" is much
used in verse to signify scented and dark-brown.
Footnote 485:
Arab. "Mandíl": these kerchiefs are mostly oblong, the short sides
being worked with gold and coloured silk, and often fringed, while the
two others are plain.
Footnote 486:
Arab. "Rayhání," of the Ocymum Basilicum or sweet basil: a delicate
handwriting, so called from the pen resembling a leaf (?) See vol. i.
p. 128.
Footnote 487:
An idiom meaning "something unusual happened."
Footnote 488:
An action common in grief and regret: here the lady would show that
she sighs for union with her beloved.
Footnote 489:
Lane (i. 608) has a valuable note on the language of signs, from M. du
Vigneau's "Secretaire Turc," etc. (Paris, 1688), Baron von
Hammer-Purgstall ("Mines de l'Orient," No. 1, Vienna, 1809) and
Marcel's "Contes du Cheykh El-Mohdy" (Paris, 1833). It is practised in
Africa as well as in Asia. At Abeokuta in Yoruba a man will send a
symbolical letter in the shape of cowries, palm-nuts and other kernels
strung on rice-straw; and sharp wits readily interpret the meaning. A
specimen is given in p. 262 of Miss Tucker's "Abbeokuta; or Sunrise
within the Tropics."
Footnote 490:
Mr. Payne (ii. 227) translates "Hawá al-'Uzrí" by "the love of the
Beni Udhra, an Arabian tribe famous for the passion and devotion with
which love was practised among them." See Night dclxxxiii. I
understand it as "excusable love" which, for want of a better term, is
here translated "platonic." It is, however, more like the old
"bundling" of Wales and Northern England; and allows all the pleasures
but one, the toyings which the French call _les plaisirs de la petite
oie_; a term my dear old friend Fred. Hankey derived from _la petite
voie_. The Afghans know it as "Námzad-bází" or betrothed-play
(Pilgrimage, ii. 56); the Abyssinians as eye-love; and the Kafirs as
Slambuka a Shlabonka, for which see the traveller Delegorgue.
Footnote 491:
"Turk" in Arabic and Persian poetry means a plunderer, a robber. Thus
Hafiz: "Agar án Turk-i-Shirázi ba-dast árad dil-i-márá," If that
Shirazi (ah, the Turk!) would deign to take my heart in hand, etc.
Footnote 492:
Arab. "Názir," a steward or an eye (a "looker"). The idea is borrowed
from Al-Hariri (Assemblies, xiii.), and
Footnote 493:
Arab. "Hájib," a groom of the chambers, a chamberlain; also an
eyebrow. See Al-Hariri, ibid. xiii. and xxii.
Footnote 494:
This gesture speaks for itself: it is that of a dyer staining a cloth.
The "Sabbágh's" shop is the usual small recess, open to the street and
showing pans of various dyes sunk like "dog-laps" in the floor.
Footnote 495:
The Arab. Sabt (from sabata, he kept Sabt) and the Heb. "Sabbath" both
mean Saturn's day, Saturday, transferred by some unknown process
throughout Christendom to Sunday. The change is one of the most
curious in the history of religions. If there be a single command
stronger than all others it is "Keep the Saturday holy." It was so
kept by the Founder of Christianity; the order was never abrogated and
yet most Christians are not aware that Sabbath, or "Sawbath," means
Saturn's day, the "Shiyár" of the older Arabs. And to complete its
degradation "Sabbat" in French and German means a _criaillerie_, a
"row," a disorder, an abominable festival of Hexen (witches). This
monstrous absurdity can be explained only by aberrations of sectarian
zeal, of party spirit in religion.
Footnote 496:
The men who cry to prayer. The first was Bilál, the Abyssinian slave
bought and manumitted by Abu Bakr. His simple cry was "I testify there
is no Iláh (god) but Allah (God)! Come ye to prayers!" Caliph Omar,
with the Prophet's permission, added, "I testify that Mohammed is the
Apostle of Allah." The prayer-cry which is beautiful and human,
contrasting pleasantly with the brazen clang of the bell, now is
Allah is Almighty (bis).
I declare no god is there but Allah (bis).
Hie ye to Rogation (Hayya=halumma).
Hie ye to Salvation (Faláh=prosperity, Paradise).
("Hie ye to Edification," a Shi'ah adjunct).
Prayer is better than sleep (in the morning, also bis).
No god is there but Allah.
This prayer-call is similarly worded and differently pronounced and
intoned throughout Al-Islam.
Footnote 497:
_i.e._ a graceful youth of Al-Hijaz, the Moslem Holy Land, whose
"sons" claim especial privileges.
Footnote 498:
Arab. "harf"=a letter, as we should say a syllable.
Footnote 499:
She uses the masculine "fatá," in order to make the question more
mysterious.
Footnote 500:
The fountain-bowl is often ornamented by a rude mosaic of black and
white marble with enlivenments of red stone or tile in complicated
patterns.
Footnote 501:
Arab. "Kubád"=shaddock (citrus decumana): the huge orange which
Captain Shaddock brought from the West Indies; it is the Anglo-Indian
pompelmoose, vulg. pummelo. An excellent bitter is made out of the
rind steeped in spirits. Citronworts came from India whence they
spread throughout the tropics: they were first introduced into Europe
by the heroic Joam de Castro and planted in his garden at Cintra where
their descendants are still seen.
Footnote 502:
Arab. Bakláwah, Turk. Baklává, a kind of pastry with blanched almonds
bruised small between layers of dough, baked in the oven and cut into
lozenges. It is still common.
Footnote 503:
Her just fear was that the young woman might prove "too clever by
half" for her simpleton cousin.
Footnote 504:
The curse is pregnant with meaning. On Judgement-day the righteous
shall arise with their faces shining gloriously: hence the blessing,
"Bayyaz' Allaho wajh-ak" (=Allah whiten thy countenance!). But the
wicked shall appear with faces scorched black and deformed by horror
(Koran xxiv.): hence "God blacken thy brow!" I may observe that
Easterns curse, the curse being everywhere the language of excited
destructiveness; but only Westerns, and these chiefly English, swear,
a practice utterly meaningless. "Damn _it_" without specifying what
the "it" is, sounds like the speech of a naughty child anxious only to
use a "wicked word." "Damn _you_!" is intelligible all the world over.
It has given rise to "les goddams" in France; "Godámes" in the Brazil
and "Gotáma" amongst the Somal of Eastern Africa, who learn it in
Aden.
Footnote 505:
Arab. "Zardah," usually rice dressed with saffron and honey, from
Pers. "Zard," saffron, yellow. See Night dccxii.
Footnote 506:
Vulgarly called "knuckle-bone," concerning which I shall have
something to say.
Footnote 507:
A bit of wood used in the children's game called "Táb" which resembles
our tip-cat (Lane M. E. chapt. xvii.)
Footnote 508:
Arab. "Balah," the unripened date, which is considered a laxative and
eaten in hot weather.
Footnote 509:
Lane (i. 611), quoting Al-Kazwíní, notes that the date-stone is called
"Nawá" (dim. "Nawáyah") which also means distance, absence, severance.
Thus the lady threatens to cast off her greedy and sleepy lover.
Footnote 510:
The pod of the carob-bean which changes little after being plucked is
an emblem of constancy.
Footnote 511:
This dirham=48 grains avoir.
Footnote 512:
The weight would be round: also "Hadíd" (=iron) means sharp or
piercing (Koran chapt. vii. 21). The double "swear" is intended to be
very serious. Moreover iron conjures away fiends: when a water-spout
or a sand-devil (called Shaytán also in Arabia) approaches, you point
the index at the Jinn and say, "Iron, O thou ill-omened one!" Amongst
the Ancient Egyptians the metal was ill-omened being the bones of
Typhon, so here, possibly, we have an instance of early
homœopathy—similia similibus.
Footnote 513:
Probably fermented to a kind of wine. The insipid fruit (Unnáb) which
looks like an apple in miniature, is much used in stews, etc. It is
the fruit (Nabak classically Nabik) of Rhamnus Nabeca (or Sidrat) also
termed Zizyphus Jujuba, seu Spina Christi because fabled to have
formed the crown of thorns: in the English market this plum is called
Chinese Japonica. I have described it in Pilgrimage ii. 205, and have
noticed the infusion of the leaves for washing the dead (ibid. ii.
105): this is especially the use of the "Ber" in India, where the
leaves are superstitiously held peculiarly pure. Our dictionaries
translate "Sidr" by "Lote-tree"; and no wonder that believers in
Homeric writ feel their bile aroused by so poor a realisation of the
glorious myth. The Homerids probably alluded to Hashish or Bhang.
Footnote 514:
Arab. "Azrár": the open collar of the Saub ("Tobe") or long loose
dress is symptomatic. The Eastern button is on the same principle as
ours (both having taken the place of the classical fibula); but the
Moslem affects a loop (like those to which we attach our "frogs") and
utterly ignores a button-hole.
Footnote 515:
Alluding to the ceremonious circumambulation of the Holy House at
Meccah, a notable irreverence worthy of Kneph-town (Canopus).
Footnote 516:
The ear-drop is the penis and the anklet its crown of glory.
Footnote 517:
Equivalent to our "Alas! Alas!" which, by the by, no one ever says.
"Awáh," like "Yauh," is now a woman's word although used by Al-Hariri
(Assembly of Basrah) and so Al-awwáh=one who cries from grief "Awáh."
A favourite conversational form is "Yehh" with the aspirate
exasperated; but it is an expression of astonishment rather than
sorrow. It enters into Europe travel-books.
Footnote 518:
In the text "burst her gall-bladder."
Footnote 519:
The death of Azizah is told with true Arab pathos and simplicity: it
still draws tears from the eyes of the Badawi, and I never read it
without a "lump in the throat."
Footnote 520: