Supplemental Nights, Volume 4
by
Richard F. Burton
Part 7 out of 7
morals.
[FN#189] In text "Ghayr Wa'd," or "Min ghayr Wa'd." Lit. without
previous agreement: much used in this text for suddenly,
unexpectedly, without design.
[FN#190] The reader will have remarked the use of the Arabic
"'Alaka"=he hung, which with its branches greatly resembles the
Lat. pendere.
[FN#191] Arab. "Min al-Malabis," plur. of "Malbas"=anything
pleasant or enjoyable; as the plural of "Milbas"=dress, garment,
it cannot here apply.
[FN#192] i.e. "The Tigris" (Hid-dekel), with which the Egyptian
writer seems to be imperfectly acquainted. See vols. i. 180;
viii. 150.
[FN#193] The word, as usual misapplied in the West, is to be
traced through the Turk. Kushk (pron. Kyushk) to the Pers.
"Kushk"=an upper chamber.
[FN#194] Four including the doorkeeper. The Darwayshes were
suspected of kidnapping, a practice common in the East,
especially with holy men. I have noticed in my Pilgrimage (vols.
ii. 273; iii. 327), that both at Meccah and at Al-Medinah the
cheeks of babes are decorated with the locally called
"Mashali"=three parallel gashes drawn by the barber with the
razor down the fleshy portion of each cheek, from the exterior
angles of the eyes almost to the corners of the mouth. According
to the citizens this "Tashrit" is a modern practice distinctly
opposed to the doctrine of Al-Islam; but, like the tattooing of
girls, it is intended to save the children from being carried
off, for good luck, by kidnapping pilgrims, especially Persians.
[FN#195] The hair being shaven or plucked and showing the darker
skin. In the case of the axilla-pile, vellication is the popular
process: see vol. ix. 139. Europeans who do not adopt this
essential part of cleanliness in hot countries are looked upon as
impure by Moslems.
[FN#196] Here a little abbreviation has been found necessary: "of
no avail is a twice-told tale."
[FN#197] The nearest approach in Eastern tales to Western
hysterics.
[FN#198] A tent-pitcher, body servant, etc. See vol. vii. 4. The
word is still popular in Persia.
[FN#199] The amount of eating and drinking in this tale is
phenomenal; but, I repeat, Arabs enjoy reading of "meat and
drink" almost as much as Englishmen.
[FN#200] Arab writers always insist upon the symptom of rage
which distinguishes the felines from the canines; but they do not
believe that the end of the tail has a sting.
[FN#201] The circular leather which acts alternately provision
bag and table-cloth. See vols. i. 178; v. 8; viii. 269, and ix.
141.
[FN#202] He refused because he suspected some trick and would not
be on terms of bread and salt with the stranger.
[FN#203] The story contains excellent material, but the writer or
the copier has "scamped" it in two crucial points, the meeting of
the bereaved Sultan and his wife (Night ccclxxvii.) and the
finale where we miss the pathetic conclusions of the Mac. and
Bresl. Edits. Also a comparison of this hurried denouement with
the artistic tableau of "King Omar bin al-Nu'uman," where all the
actors are mustered upon the stage before the curtain falls,
measures the difference between this MS. and the printed texts,
showing the superior polish and finish of the latter.
[FN#204] Vol. iii. pp. 386-97, where it follows immediately the
last story. Scott (Story of the Avaricious Cauzee and his Wife,
vi. 112) has translated it after his own fashion, excising half
and supplying it out of his own invention; and Gauttier has
followed suit in the Histoire du Cadi avare et de sa Femme, vi.
254.
[FN#205] Tarabulus and Atrabulus are Arabisations of Tripolis
(hod. Tripoli) the well-known port-town north of Bayrut; founded
by the Phoenicians, rose to fame under the Seleucidae, and was
made splendid by the Romans. See Socin's "Baedeker," p. 509.
[FN#206] i.e. the Kazi's court-house
[FN#207] Arab. "Buksumah" = "hard bread" (Americanice).
[FN#208] Arab. "Sufrah umm jalajil." Lit. an eating-cloth with
little bells, like those hung to a camel, or metal plates as on
the rim of a tambourine.
[FN#209] The Kursi here = the stool upon which the "Siniyah" or
tray of tinned copper is placed, the former serving as a table.
These stools, some 15 inches high and of wood inlaid with bone,
tortoise-shell or mother-of-pearl, are now common in England,
where one often sees children using them as seats. The two (Kursi
and Siniyah) compose the Sufrah, when the word is used in the
sense of our "dinner-table." Lane (M.E. chapt. v.) gives an
illustration of both articles.
[FN#210] Arab. "Jaridah," a palm-frond stripped of its leaves
(Supplemental vol. i. 203), hence the "Jarid" used as a javelin;
see vol. vi. 263.
[FN#211] An Egyptian or a Syrian housewife will make twenty
dishes out of roast lamb, wholly unlike the "good plain cook" of
Great or Greater Britain, who leaves the stomach to do all the
work of digestion in which she ought to but does not assist.
[FN#212] A plate of "Baysar" or "Faysar," a dish peculiar to
Egypt; beans seasoned with milk and honey and generally eaten
with meat. See Mr. Guy Lestrange's "Al-Mukaddasi," Description of
Syria, p. 80; an author who wrote cir. A.H. 986. Scott (vi. 119)
has "A savoury dish called byssarut, which is composed of parched
beans and pounded salt meat, mixed up with various seeds, onions
and garlic." Gauttier (vi. 261) carefully avoids giving the
Arabic name, which occurs in a subsequent tale (Nights cdxliv.)
when a laxative is required.
[FN#213] Arab. "Mulukhiyah nashiyah," lit. = flowing; i.e. soft
like epinards au jus. Mulukhiya that favourite vegetable, the
malva esculenta is derived from the Gr. {Greek} (also written
{Greek}) from {Greek} = to soften, because somewhat relaxing. In
ancient Athens it was the food of the poorer classes and in Egypt
it is eaten by all, taking the place of our spinach and sorrel.
[FN#214] Arab. "Kalak" = lit. "agitation," "disquietude" and here
used as syn. with "Kulanj," a true colic.
[FN#215] Arab. "Mazarat," from "Mazr," = being addled (an egg).
[FN#216] Here is an allusion to the "Massage," which in these
days has assumed throughout Europe all the pretensions of
scientific medical treatment. The word has been needlessly
derived from the Arab. "Mas'h" = rubbing, kneading; but we have
the Gr. synonym æ and the Lat. Massare. The text describes
child-bed customs amongst Moslem women, and the delivery of the
Kazi has all the realism of M. Zola's accouchement in La Joie de
Vivre.
[FN#217] Arab. "Fa'alah" = the building craft, builders' trade.
[FN#218] In text "Kawwarah," which is not found in the
dictionaries. "Kuwaray"= that which is cut off from the side of a
thing, etc. My translation is wholly tentative: perhaps Kawwara
may be a copyist's error for "Kazazah" = vulg. a (flask of)
glass.
[FN#219] The "Khaznah," = treasury, is a thousand "Kis" = 500
piastres, or œ5 at par; and thus represents œ5,000, a large sum
for Tripoli in those days.
[FN#220] The same incident occurs in that pathetic tale with an
ill name = "How Abu al-Hasan brake Wind." vol. v. 135.
[FN#221] Arab. "Karkabah," clerical error (?) for "Karkarah" =
driving (as wind the clouds); rumbling of wind in bowels. Dr.
Steingass holds that it is formed by addition of a second "K,"
from the root "Karb," one of whose meanings is: "to inflate the
stomach."
[FN#222] For Ummu 'Amrin = mother of 'Amru, so written and
pronounced " 'Amr," a fancy name, see vol. v. 118, for the Tale
of the Schoolmaster, a well-known "Joe Miller." [Ummu 'Amrin,
like Ummu 'Amirin, is a slang term for "hyena." Hence, if Ass and
Umm Amr went off together, it is more than likely that neither
came back.--St.]
[FN#223] A slang name for Death. "Kash'am" has various sigs. esp.
the lion, hence Rabi'at al-Faras (of the horses), one of the four
sons of Nizar was surnamed Al-Kash'am from his coeur de lion (Al-
Mas'udi iii. 238). Another pleasant term for departing life is
Abu Yahya = Father of John, which also means "The Living" from
Hayy--Death being the lord of all: hence "Yamut" lit.= he dies,
is an ill-omened name amongst Arabs. Kash'am is also a hyena, and
Umm Kash'am is syn. with Umm 'Amir (vol. i. 43). It was
considered a point of good breeding to use these "Kunyah" for the
purpose of varying speech (see al-Hariri Ass. xix.). The phrase
in the text = meaning went to hell, as a proverb was first used
by Zuhayr, one of the "Suspended Poets." Umm Kash'am was the P.N.
of a runaway camel which, passing by a large fire, shied and
flung its riding saddle into the flames. So in Al-Siyuti's
"History of the Caliphs" (p. 447), the text has "And Malak Shah
went to where her saddle was thrown by Umm Kash'am," which Major
Jarrett renders "departed to hell-fire."
[FN#224] Scott's "Story of the Bhang-eater and Cauzee," vi. 126:
Gauttier, Histoire du Preneur d'Opium et du Cadi, vi. 268.
[FN#225] Arab. "Lawwaha" = lit. pointing out, making clear.
[FN#226] Text "in his belly," but afterwards in his "Halkah" =
throat, throttle, which gives better sense.
[FN#227] In text "Hayishah" from "Haysh" = spoiling, etc.
[FN#228] Arab. "Yauh!" See vols. ii. 321; vi. 235.
[FN#229] Arab. "Ya Jad'an" (pron. "Gad'an") more gen. "Ya Jad'a"
= mon brave!
[FN#230] In text "Ya 'Arzad": prob. a clerical slip for "'Urzat,"
plur. of "'Urzah" = a companion, a (low) fellow, a man evil
spoken of.
[FN#231] Easterns love drinking in a bright light: see vol. ii.
59.
[FN#232] Arab. "'Akl" (= comprehension, understanding) and "Nakl"
(= copying, describing, transcribing), a favourite phrase in this
MS.
[FN#233] Arab. "Ummali"; gen. Ummal, an affirmation; Certes, I
believe you!
[FN#234] For the many preparations of this drug, see Herklots,
Appendix, pp. lxviii. ciii. It is impossible to say how "Indian
hemp," like opium, datura, ether and chloroform, will affect the
nervous system of an untried man. I have read a dozen
descriptions of the results, from the highly imaginative Monte
Cristo to the prose of prosaic travellers; and do not recognise
that they are speaking of the same thing.
[FN#235] This tranquil enjoyment is popularly called "Kayf." See
my Pilgraimage i. 13. In a coarser sense it is applied to all
manners of intoxication; and the French traveller Sonnini says,
"The Arabs (by which he means the Egyptians) give the name of
Kayf to the voluptuous relaxation, the delicious stupor, produced
by the smoking of hemp." I have smoked it and eaten it for months
without other effect than a greatly increased appetite and a
little drowsiness.
[FN#236] These childish indecencies are often attributed to
Bhang-eaters. See "Bakun's Tale of the Hashish-eater," vol. ii.
91. Modest Scott (vi. 129) turns the joke into "tweaking the
nose." Respectable Moslems dislike the subject, but the vulgar
relish it as much as the sober Italian enjoys the description of
a drinking bout--in novels.
[FN#237] In the text "Finjal," a vulgarism for "Finjan": so the
converse "Isma'in" for "Ism'ail" = Ishmael. Mr. J. W. Redhouse
(The Academy No. 764) proposes a new date for coffee in Al-Yaman.
Colonel Playfair (History of Yemen, Bombay 1859) had carelessly
noted that its "first use at Aden was by a judge of the place who
had seen it drunk at Zayla', on the African coast opposite Aden,"
and he made the judge die in A.H. 875 = A.D. 1470. This is about
the date of the Shaykh al-Shazali's tomb at Mocha, and he was the
first who brought the plant form about African Harar to the
Arabian seaboard. But Mr. Redhouse finds in a Turkish work
written only two centuries ago, and printed at Constantinople, in
A.D. 1732, that the "ripe fruit was discovered growing wild in
the mountains of Yemen (?) by a company of dervishes banished
thither." Finding the berry relieve their hunger and support
their vigils the prior, "Shaykh 'Umar advised their stewing it
(?) and the use became established. They dried a store of the
fruit; and its use spread to other dervish communities, who
perhaps (?) sowed the seed wherever it would thrive throughout
Africa (N.B. where it is indigenous) and India (N.B. where both
use and growth are quite modern). From Africa, two centuries
later, its use was reimported to Arabia at Aden (?) by the judge
above mentioned, who in a season of scarcity of the dried fruit
(?) tried the seed" (N.B. which is the fruit). This is passing
strange and utterly unknown to the learned De Sacy (Chrest. Arab.
i. 412-481).
[FN#238] Koran iii. 128. D'Herbelot and Sale (Koran, chap. iii.
note) relate on this text a noble story of Hasan Ali-son and his
erring slave which The Forty Vezirs (Lady's eighth story, p. 113)
ignorantly attributes to Harun al-Rashid:--Forthwith the Caliph
rose in wrath and was about to hew the girl to pieces, when she
said, "O Caliph, Almighty Allah saith in His glorious Word (the
Koran), 'And the stiflers of Wrath'" (iii. 128). Straightway the
Caliph's wrath was calmed. Again said the girl, "'And the
pardoners of men.'" (ibid.) Quoth the Caliph, "I have forgiven
the crimes of all the criminals who may be in prison." Again said
the slave-girl, "'And Allah loveth the beneficent.'" (ibid.)
Quoth the Caliph, "God be witness that I have with my own wealth
freed thee and us many male and female slaves as I have, and that
this day I have for the love of Allah given the half of all my
good in alms to the poor." This is no improvement upon the simple
and unexaggerated story in Sale. "It is related of Hasan, the son
of Ali, that a slave having once thrown a dish on him boiling
hot, as he sat at table, and fearing his master's resentment,
fell on his knees and repeated these words, Paradise is for those
who bridle their anger. Hasan answered, I am not angry. The slave
proceeded, And for those who forgive men. I forgive you, said
Hasan. The slave, however, finished the verse, For Allah loveth
the beneficent. Since it is so, replied Hasan, I give you your
liberty and four hundred pieces of silver."
[FN#239] The old name of the parish bull in rural England.
[FN#240] Arab. "Kawik:" see The Nights, vol. vi. 182, where the
bird is called "Ak'ak." Our dicts. do not give the word, but
there is a "Kauk" (Kaka, yakuku) to cluck, and "Kauk" = an
aquatic bird with a long neck. I assume "Kawik" to be an
intensive form of the same root. The "Mother of Solomon" is a
fanciful "Kunyah," or bye name given to the bird by the
Bhang-eater, suggesting his high opinion of her wisdom.
[FN#241] Arab. "Natur," prop. a watchman: also a land-mark, a
bench-mark of tamped clay.
[FN#242] In text "Bartaman" for "Martaban" = a pot, jar, or
barrel-shaped vessel: others apply the term to fine porcelain
which poison cannot affect. See Col. Yule's Glossary, s. v.
Martaban, where the quotation from Ibn Batutah shows that the
term was current in the xivth century. Linschoten (i. 101)
writes, "In this town (Martaban of Pegu) many of the great
earthen pots are made, which in India are called Martananas, and
many of them are carried throughout all India of all sorts both
small and great: and some are so great that they will fill two
pipes of water." Pyrard (i. 259) applies the name to "certain
handsome jars, of finer shape and larger than I have seen
elsewhere" (Transl. by ALBERT Gray for the Hakluyt Soc. 1887).
Mr. Hill adds that at Male the larger barrel-shaped jars of
earthenware are still called "Mataban," and Mr. P. Brown (Zillah
Dictionary, 1852) finds the word preserved upon the Madras coast
= a black jar in which rice is imported from Pegu.
[FN#243] The Arabic here changes person, "he repeated" after
Eastern Fashion, and confuses the tale to European readers.
[FN#244] Such treasure trove belonging to the State, i.e. the
King.
[FN#245] Arab. "Huri" for "Hir" = a pool, marsh, or quagmire, in
fact corresponding with our vulgar "bogshop." Dr. Steingass would
read "Hauri," a "mansub" of "Haur" = pond, quagmire, which, in
connection with a Hammam, may = sink, sewer, etc.
[FN#246] The Bedlam: see vol. i. 288.
[FN#247] Arab. "Tamtar aysh?" (i.e. Ayyu shayyin, see vol. i.
79). I may note that the vulgar abbreviation is of ancient date.
Also the Egyptian dialect has borrowed, from its ancestor the
Coptic, the practice of putting the interrogatory pronoun or
adverb after (not before the verb, e.g. "Ra'ih fayn?" = Wending
(art thou) whither? It is regretable that Egyptian scholars do
not see the absolute necessity of studying Coptic, and this
default is the sole imperfection of the late Dr. Spitta Bey's
admirable Grammar of Egyptian.
[FN#248] Arab. "'Arsah," akin to "Mu'arris" (masc.) = a pimp, a
pander. See vol. i. 338; and Supp. vol. i. 138; and for its use
Pilgrimage i. 276.
[FN#249] i.e. Abu Kasim the Drummer. The word "Tambur" is
probably derived from "Tabl" = a drum, which became by the common
change of liquids "Tabur" in O. French and "Tabour" in English.
Hence the mod. form "Tambour," which has been adopted by Turkey,
e.g. Tamburji = a drummer. In Egypt, however, "Tambur" is applied
to a manner of mandoline or guitar, mostly used by Greeks and
other foreigners. See Lane, M.E. chap. xviii.
[FN#250] Arab. "Bal" (sing. Balah) = a bale, from the Span. Bala
and Italian Balla, a small parcel made up in the shape of a bale,
Lat. Palla.
[FN#251] Arab. "Walash," i.e. "Was la shayya" = "And nihil" (nil,
non ens, naught).
[FN#252] Arab. "Kurbaj" = cravache: vol. viii. 17. The best are
made of hippopotamus-hide (imported from East Africa), boiled and
hammered into a round form and tapering to the point. Plied by a
strong arm they cut like a knout.
[FN#253] The text "Ya Sultan-am," a Persian or Turkish form for
the Arab. "Ya Sultan-i."
[FN#254] In text "Kalb" for "Kulbat" = a cave, a cavern.
[FN#255] The houses were of unbaked brick or cob, which readily
melts away in rain and requires annual repairing at the base of
the walls where affected by rain and dew. In Sind the damp of the
earth with its nitrous humour eats away the foundations and soon
crumbles them to dust.
[FN#256] Here meaning the under-Governor or head Clerk.
[FN#257] "Nil" (= the Nile), in vulgar Egyptian parlance the word
is = "high Nile," or the Nile in flood.
[FN#258] Arab. "Darwayshsah" = a she-Fakir, which in Europe would
be represented by that prime pest a begging nun.
[FN#259] Arab. "Allah hafiz-ik" = the popular Persian expression,
"Khuda Hafiz!"
[FN#260] Arab. "Salihin" = the Saints, the Holy Ones.
[FN#261] Arab. "Sharkh" = in dicts. the unpolished blade of a
hiltless sword.
[FN#262] In the text "Milayah," a cotton stuff some 6 feet long,
woven in small chequers of white and indigo-blue with an ending
of red at either extremity. Men wrap it round the body or throw
it over the shoulder like our plaid, whose colours I believe are
a survival of the old body-paintings, Pictish and others. The
woman's "Milayah" worn only out of doors may be of silk or
cotton: it is made of two pieces which are sewed together
lengthwise and these cover head and body like a hooded cloak.
Lane figures it in M.E. chapt. i. When a woman is too poor to own
a "Milayah" or a "Habarah" (a similar article) she will use a
bed-sheet for out-of-doors work.
[FN#263] The pun here is "Khaliyat" = bee-hive and empty: See
vols. vi. 246 ix. 291. It will occur again in Supplementary vol.
v. Night DCXLVI.
[FN#264] i.e. Caravan, the common Eastern term. In India it was
used for a fleet of merchantmen under convoy: see Col. Yule,
Glossary, s. v.
[FN#265] Again "Bartaman" for "Martaban."
[FN#266] The "Sahib" = owner, and the "Dallal" = broker, are
evidently the same person.
[FN#267] "Ala kam" for "kam" (how much?)--peasants' speech.
[FN#268] She has appeared already twice in The Nights, esp. in
The Tale of Ghanim bin 'Ayyub (vol. ii. 45) and in Khalifah the
Fisherman of Baghdad (vol. viii. 145). I must again warn my
readers nto to confound "Kut" = food with "Kuwwat" = force, as in
Scott's "Koout al Koolloob" (vi. 146). See Terminal Essay p. 101.
[FN#269] In text "Mu'ammarjiyah" (master-masons), a vulgar
Egyptianism for "Mu'ammarin." See "Jawashiyah," vols. ii. 49;
viii. 330. In the third line below we find "Muhandizin" =
gemoetricians, architects, for "Muhandism." [Perhaps a
reminiscence of the Persian origin of the word "Handasah" =
geometry, which is derived from "Andazah" = measurement,
etc.-St.]
[FN#270] The text ends this line in Arabic.
[FN#271] Alluding to the curious phenomenon pithily expressed in
the Latin proverb, "Suus cuique crepitus bene olet," I know of no
exception to the rule, except amongst travellers in Tibet, where
the wild onion, the only procurable green-stuff, produces an
odour so rank and fetid that men run away from their own
crepitations. The subject is not savoury, yet it has been
copiously illustrated: I once dined at a London house whose
nameless owner, a noted bibliophile, especially of "facetiae,"
had placed upon the drawing-room table a dozen books treating of
the "Crepitus ventris." When the guests came up and drew near the
table, and opened the volumes, their faces were a study. For the
Arab. "Faswah" = a silent break wind, see vol. ix. 11 and 291. It
is opposed to "Zirt" = a loud fart and the vulgar term, see vol.
ii. 88.
[FN#272] Arab. "Ya Haza," see vol. i. 290.
[FN#273] In text "Yumkinshayy," written in a single word, a
favourite expression, Fellah-like withal, throughout this MS.
[FN#274] In text "Tafazzalu;" see vol. ii. 103.
[FN#275] The word (Saray) is Pers. But naturalised throughout
Egypt and Syria; in places like Damascus where there is no king
it is applied to the official head-quarters of the Wali
(provincial governor), and contains the prison like the Maroccan
"Kasbah." It must not be confounded with "Serraglio" = the Harem,
Gynecium or women's rooms, which appears to be a bastard
neo-Latin word "Serrare," through the French Serrer. I therefore
always write it with the double "canine letter."
[FN#276] I have noted (vol. i. 95) that the "Khil'ah" = robe of
honour, consists of many articles, such as a horse, a gold-hilted
sword, a fine turban, etc., etc.
[FN#277] This again shows the "Nakkal" or coffee-house
tale-teller. See vol. x. 144.
[FN#278] This is the Moslem version of "Solomon's Judgment" (1
Kings iii. 16-20). The Hebrew legend is more detailed but I
prefer its rival for sundry reasons. Here the women are not
"harlots" but the co-wives of one man and therefore hostile;
moreover poetical justice is done to the constructive murderess.
[FN#279] I am not aware that the specific gravity of the milks
has ever been determined by modern science; and perhaps the
experiment is worthy a trial.
[FN#280] Arab. "Duna-k." See vol. iv. p. 20.
[FN#281] "Al-Waziru'l-Arif bi-llahi Ta'ala," a title intended to
mimic those of the Abbaside Caliphs; such as "Mu'tasim bi'llah"
(servant of Allah), the first of the long line whose names begin
with an epithet (the Truster, the Implorer, etc.), and ed with
"bi'llah."
[FN#282] [Tarajjama, which is too frequently used in this MS. to
be merely considered as a clerical error, I suppose to mean: he
pronounced for him the formula: "A'uzzu bi llahi mina 'l-Shaytani
'l-Rajimi" = I take refuge with Allah against Satan the Stoned.
See Koran xvi. 100. It would be thus equivalent with the usual
taáwwaza.-St.]
[FN#283] The MS. here ends Night cdxii. and begins the next. Up
to this point I have followed the numeration but from this
forwards as the Nights become unconscionably short compared with
the intervening dialogues, I have thrown two and sometimes three
into one. The Arabic numbers are, however, preserved for easier
reference.
[FN#284] This is a poor and scamped version of "Ali the Persian
and the Kurd Sharper," in vol. v. 149. It is therefore omitted.
[FN#285] The dish-cover, usually made of neatly plaited straw
variously coloured, is always used, not only for cleanliness but
to prevent the Evil Eye falling upon and infecting the food.
[FN#286] The "Bamiyah," which = the Gumbo, Occra (Okra) or Bhendi
of Brit. India which names the celebrated bazar of Bombay, is the
esculent hibiscus, the polygonal pod (some three inches long and
thick as a man's finger) full of seeds and mucilage making it an
excellent material for soups and stews. It is a favourite dish in
Egypt and usually eaten with a squeeze of lime-juice. See Lane,
Mod. Egypt. chapt. v., and Herklots (App. p. xlii.) who notices
the curry of "Bandaki" or Hibiscus esculentus.
[FN#287] Written "Bakshish," after Fellah-fashion.
[FN#288] [In the MS.: Wa'l-Sultanu karaa Wirduh (Wirda-hu) wa
jalasa li Munadamah = And the Sovran recited his appointed
portion of the Koran, and then sat down to convivial converse.
This reminds of the various passages of the present Shah of
Persia's Diary, in which he mentions the performance of his
evening devotions, before setting out for some social gathering,
say a supper in the Guildhall, which he neatly explains as a
dinner after midnight (Sham ba'd az nisf-i-shab).--St.]
[FN#289] This is Scott's "Story of the Three Princes and
Enchanting Bird," vol. vi. 160. On the margin of the W. M. MS. he
has written, "Story of the King and his Three Sons and the
Enchanting Bird" (vol. i. Night cdxvii.). Gauttier, vi. 292,
names it Histoire des Trois Princes et de l'Oiseau Magicien.
Galland may have used parts of it in the "Two Sisters who envied
their Cadette": see Supp. vol. iii. pp. 313-361.
[FN#290] In text "Al-Bulaybul" (the little Nightingale,
Philomelet) "Al Sayyah" (the Shrieker). The latter epithet
suggests to me the German novel which begins, "We are in Italy
where roses bestink the day and Nightingales howl through the
live-long night," &c.
[FN#291] "Sanjak," Turk. = flag, banner, and here used (as in
vulg. Arab.) for Sanjak-dar, the banner-bearer, ensign. In mod.
parlance, Sanjak = minor province, of which sundry are included
in an "Iyalah" = government-general, under the rule of a Wali
(Wilayah).
[FN#292] In the MS. "Zifr" = nail, claw, talon.
[FN#293] "Al-Rizk maksum," an old and sage byword pregnant with
significance: compare "Al-Khauf (fear) maksum" = cowardice is
equally divided. Vol. iii. 173. [I read: "Yas'a 'l-Kadamu
li-'Umrin dana au li-Rizkin qusima," taking "Rizk" as an
equivalent for "al-Rizku 'l-hasanu" = any good thing which a man
obtains without exerting himself in seeking for it, and the
passive "qusima" in the sense of Kismah, vulgo "Kismet." Hence I
would translate: The foot speeds to a life that is mean, or to a
boon that is pre-ordained.-St.]
[FN#294] In the text "Bat" (for Bit), in Fellah-speech "Pass the
night here!" The Bird thus makes appeal to the honour and
hospitality of his would-be captor, and punishes him if he
consent. I have translated after Scott (v. 161). [I cannot
persuade myself to take "bat" for an imperative, which would
rather be "bit" for "bit," as we shall find "kum" for "kum,"
"ruh" for "ruh." It seems to me that the preterite "bat" means
here "the night has passed," and rendering "man" by the
interrogative, I would translate: "O! who shall say to the sad,
the separated, night is over?" Complaints of the length of night
are frequent with the parted in Arab poetry. This accords also
better with the following 'Atus al-Shams, the sneezing of the
sun, which to my knowledge, applies only to daybreak, as in
Hariri's 15th Assembly (al-Farziyah), where "the nose of the
morning" sneezes.--St.]
[FN#295] i.e., they bound kerchiefs stained blue or almost black
round their brows. In modern days Fellah women stain their veils
(face and head), kerchiefs and shirts with indigo; and some
colour their forearms to the elbow.
[FN#296] Here again and in the following adventure we have
"Khudadad and his Brothers." Suppl. vol. iii. 145-174.
[FN#297] In sign of despair. See vol. i. 298.
[FN#298] In text "Kalamatu 'llah" = the Koran: and the quotation
is from chapt. cxiii. 5. For the "Two Refuge-takings"
(Al-Mu'awizzatani), see vol. iii. 222.
[FN#299] i.e., caused his brothers to recover life. [I read:
Allazi 'amaltu fi-him natijah yujazuni bi-Ziddi-ha = Those to
whom I did a good turn, requite me with the contrary thereof.
Allazi, originally the masc. Sing. is in this MS. vulgarly, like
its still more vulgar later contraction, "illi," used for both
genders and the three numbers.--St.]
[FN#300] Arab. "Hazir!" I have noted that this word, in Egypt and
Syria, corresponds with the English waiter's "Yes sir!"
[FN#301] Koran, Chapter of Joseph, xii. 19.
[FN#302] Arab. "Hanut:" this custom has become almost obsolete:
the corpse is now sprinkled with a mixture of water, camphor
diluted and the dried and pounded leaves of various trees,
especially the "Nabk" (lote-tree or Zizyphus lotus).--Lane M.E.
chapt. xxviii.
[FN#303] These comical measures were taken by "Miss Lucy" in
order to charm away the Evil Eye which had fascinated the article
in question. Such temporary impotence in a vigorous man, which
results from an exceptional action of the brain and the nervous
system, was called in old French Nouement des aiguilettes (i.e.
point-tying, the points which fastened the haut-de-chausses or
hose to the jerkin, and its modern equivalent would be to "button
up the flap"). For its cure, the "Deliement des aiguilettes" see
Davenport "Aphrodisiacs" p. 36, and the French translation of the
Shaykh al-Nafzawi (Jardin Parfume, chapt. xvii. pp. 251-53). The
Moslem heals such impotence by the usual simples, but the girl in
the text adopts a moral course which buries the dead parts in
order to resurrect them. A friend of mine, a young and vigorous
officer, was healed by a similar process. He had carried off a
sergeant's wife, and the husband lurked about the bungalow to
shot him, a copper cap being found under the window hence a state
of nervousness which induced perfect impotence. He applied to the
regimental surgeon, happily a practised hand, and was gravely
supplied with pills and a draught; his diet was carefully
regulated and he was ordered to sleep by the woman but by no
means to touch her for ten days. On the fifth he came to his
adviser with a sheepish face and told him that he had not wholly
followed the course prescribed, as last night he had suddenly--by
the blessing of the draught and the pills--recovered and had
given palpable evidence of his pristine vigour. The surgeon
deprecated such proceeding until the patient should have full
benefit of his drugs--bread pills and cinnamon-water.
[FN#304] Here ends vol. iii. of the W. M. MS. and begins Night
cdxxvi.
[FN#305] In the next "Risah," copyist's error for "Rishah" = a
thread, a line: it afterwards proves to be an ornament for a
falcon's neck. [I cannot bring myself to adopt her the
explanation of "Rishah" as a string instead of its usual meaning
of "feather," "plume." My reasons are the following: 1. The youth
sets it upon his head; that is, I suppose, his cap, or whatever
his head-gear may be, which seems a more appropriate place for a
feather than for a necklace. 2. Further on, Night cdxxx., it is
said that the Prince left the residence of his second spouse in
search (talib) of the city of the bird. If the word "Rishah,"
which, in the signification of thread, is Persian, had been
sufficiently familiar to an Arab to suggest, as a matter of
course, a bird's necklace, and hence the bird itself, we would
probably find a trace of this particular meaning, if not in other
Arabic books, at least in Persian writers or dictionaries; but
here the word "Rishah," by some pronounced "Reshah" with the Ya
majhul, never occurs in connection with jewels; it means fringe,
filament, fibre. On the other hand, the suggestion of the bird
presents itself quite naturally at the sight of the feather. 3.
Ib. p. 210 the youth requests the old man to tell him concerning
the "Tayrah allazi Rish-ha (not Rishat-ha) min Ma'adin," which, I
believe, can only be rendered by: the bird whose plumage is of
precious stones. The "Rishah" itself was said to be "min Zumurrud
wa Lulu," of emeralds and pearls; and the cage will be "min
Ma'adin wa Lulu," of precious stones and pearls, in all which
cases the use of the preposition "min" points more particularly
to the material of which the objects are wrought than the mere
Izafah. The wonderfulness of the bird seems therefore rather to
consist in his jewelled plumage than the gift of speech or other
enchanting qualities, and I would take it for one of those costly
toys, in imitation of trees and animals, in which Eastern princes
rejoice, and of which we read so many descriptions, not only in
books of fiction, but even in historical works. If it were a
live-bird of the other kind, he would probably have put in his
word to expose the false brothers of the Prince.--St.]
[FN#306] This is conjectural: the text has a correction which is
hardly legible. [I read: "Wa lakin hu ajmalu min-hum bi-jamalin
mufritin, lakinnahu matrudun hu wa ummu-hu" = "and yet he was
more beautiful than they with surpassing beauty, but he was an
outcast, he and his mother," as an explanation, by way of
parenthesis, for their daring to treat him so shamefully.--St.]
[FN#307] The venerable myth of Andromeda and Perseus (who is
Horus in disguise) brought down to Saint George (his latest
descendant), the Dragon (Typhon) and the fair Saba in the "Seven
Champions of Christendom." See my friend M. Clermont Ganneau's
Horus et Saint-Georges; Mr. J. R. Anderson's "Saint Mark's Rest;
the Place of Dragons;" and my "Book of the Sword," chapt. ix.
[FN#308] i.e. there was a great movement and confusion.
[FN#309] [In the text 'Afar, a word frequently joined with
"Ghubar," dust, for the sake of emphasis; hence we will find in
Night ccccxxix. the verb "yu'affiru," he was raising a
dust-cloud.--St.]
[FN#310] Upon the subject of "throwing the kerchief" see vol. vi.
285. Here it is done simply as a previously concerted signal of
recognition.
[FN#311] In text "'Ala Yadin;" for which vulgarism see vol. iii.
51.
[FN#312] Elephants are usually, as Cuvier said of the (Christian)
"Devil" after a look at his horns and hoofs, vegetarians.
[FN#313] [The MS. has "yughaffiru wa yuzaghdimu." The former
stands probably for "yu'-affiru," for which see supra p. 205,
note 2. The writing is, however, so indistinct that possibly
"yufaghghiru" is intended, which means he opened his mouth wide.
"Yuzaghdimu" is one of those quadriliterals which are formed by
blending two triliterals in one verb, in order to intensify the
idea. "Zaghada" and "Zaghama" mean both "he roared," more
especially applied to a camel, and by joining the "d" of the one
with the "m" of the other, we obtain "Zaghdama," he roared
fiercely.--St.]
[FN#314] [Sara'a-hu wa lawa'a-hu = he rushed upon him and worried
him. The root law' means to enfeeble, render sick, especially
applied to love-sickness (Lau'ah). The present 3rd form is rarely
used, but here and in a later passage, Night cdxlv., the context
bears out the sense of harassing.--St.]
[FN#315] In text "Zagharit" plur. of Zaghrutah: see vol. ii. p.
80.
[FN#316] [Ya walad al-Halal. I would translate: "O! son of a
lawful wedlock," simply meaning that he takes him to be a decent
fellow, not a scamp or Walad al-Haram.--St.]
[FN#317] The repetitium is a sign of kindness and friendliness;
see vol. vi. 370.
[FN#318] This Arabian "Sattar" corresponds passing well with
"Jupiter Servator."
[FN#319] "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast
perfected praise." Matt. Xxi. 16. The idea is not less Moslem
than Christian.
[FN#320] [I read "Sarkhah adwat la-ha al-Sarayah" = a cry to
which the palace-women raised an echo, a cry re-echoed by the
palace-women. "Adwa" is the fourth form of "Dawiya," to hum or
buzz, to produce an indistinct noise, and it is vulgarly used in
the above sense, like the substantive "Dawi," an echo. Al-Sarayah
is perhaps only an Arabised form of the Persian Saray, and the
sentence might be, to which the palace resounded.--St.]
[FN#321] The Princess is not logical: on the other hand she may
plead that she is right.
[FN#322] Arab. "Ma'lumah," which may also mean the "made known,"
or "aforemention."
[FN#323] A sensible remark which shows that the King did not
belong to the order called by Mr. Matthew Arnold "Barbarians."
[FN#324] In text: "Rajul Ja'idi," for which see supra p. 9.
[FN#325] Arab. "Fidawiyah," sing. "Fidawi" = lit. one who gives
his life to a noble cause, a forlorn hope, esp. applied to the
Ismai'liyah race, disciples of the "Assassin" Hasan-i-Sabah. See
De Sacy, "Memoire sur les Assassins Mem. de l'Institut," etc. iv.
7 et seqq. Hence perhaps a castaway, a "perdido," one careless of
his life. I suspect, however, that is is an Egyptianised form of
the Pers. "Fida'i" = a robber, a murderer. The Lat. Catalogue
prefers "Sicarius" which here cannot be the meaning.
[FN#326] Arab. "Kirsh," pop. "Girsh."
[FN#327] I have noticed that there is a Shaykh or head of the
Guild, even for thieves, in most Moslem capitals. See vol. vi.
204.
[FN#328] Here is the normal enallage of persons, "luh" = to him
for "li" = to me.
[FN#329] In text "Na'mil ma'allazi, etc....makidah." I have
attempted to preserve the idiom.
[FN#330] [In the MS. "al-'Ashrah Miah," which, I think, can
scarcely be translated by "ten times one hundred." If Miah were
dependent on al-'Ashrah, the latter could not have the article. I
propose therefore to render "one hundred for the (i.e. every)
ten" = tenfold.--St.]
[FN#331] For this "nosebag," see vols. Ii. 52, and vi. 151, 192.
[FN#332] [Until here the change fromt eh first person into the
third, as pointed out in note 2, has been kept up in the MS.--"He
reached the barracks," "he found," etc. Now suddenly the gender
changes as well, and the tale continues: "And lo, the girl went
to them and said," etc. etc. This looseness of style may, in the
mouth of an Eastern Rawi, have an additional dramatic charm for
his more eager than critical audience; but it would be
intolerable to European readers. Sir Richard has, therefore, very
properly substituted the first person all through.--St.]
[FN#333] "Riyal" is from the Span. "Real" = royal (coin): in
Egypt it was so named by order of Ali Bey, the Mameluke, in A.H.
1183 (A.D. 1771-72) and it was worth ninety Faddahs = 5 2/5d. The
word, however, is still applied to the dollar proper (Maria
Theresa), to the Riyal Fransa or five-france piece and to the
Span. pillar dollar: the latter is also nicknamed 'Abu Madfa'"
Father of a Cannon (the columns being mistaken for cannons); also
the Abu Takah (Father of a Window), whence we obtaint he
Europeanised "Patacco" (see Lane, Appendix ii.) and "Pataca,"
which Littre confounds with the "Patard" and of which he ignores
the origin.
[FN#334] See The Nights, vol. x. 12.
[FN#335] i.e. "pleasant," "enjoyable"; see "White as milk"
opposed to "black as mud," etc., vol. iv. 140. Here it is after a
fashion synonymous with the French nuit blanche.
[FN#336] [The MS. seems here to read "wa jasad-hu yuhazdimu,"
(thus at least the word, would have to be vocalised if it were a
quadrilateral verbal form), and of this I cannot make out any
sense. I suspect the final syllable is meant for "Dam," blood, of
which a few lines lower down the plural "Dima" occurs. Reamins to
account for the characters immediately preceding it. I think that
either the upper dot of the Arabic belongs to the first radical
instead of the second, reading "yukhirru," as the fourth or
causative form of "kharra yakhurru," to flow, to ripple, to purl;
or that the two dots beneath are to be divided between the first
two characters, reading "bajaza." The latter, it is true, is no
dictionary word, but we have found supra p. 176, "muhandiz" for
"muhandis," so here "bajaza" may stand for "bajasa" = gushed
forth, used intransitively and transitively. In either case the
translation would be "his body was emitting blood freely."-St.]
[FN#337] The MS. here is hardly intelligible but the sense shows
the word to be "Misallah" (plur. "Misall") = a large needle for
sewing canvas, &c. In Egypt the usual pronunciation is
"Musallah," hence the vulgar name of Cleopatra's needle "Musallat
Far'aun" (of Pharaoh) the two terms contending for which shall be
the more absurd. I may note that Commander Gorridge, the
distinguished officer of the U.S. Navy who safely and easily
carried the "Needle" to New York after the English had made a
prodigious mess with their obelisk, showed me upon the freshly
uncovered base of the pillar the most distinct intaglio
representations of masonic implements, the plumb-line, the
square, the compass, and so forth. These, however, I attributed
to masonry as the craft, to the guild; he to Freemasonry, which
in my belief was unknown to the Greeks and Romans, and is never
mentioned in history before the eight Crusades (A.D. 1096-1270).
The practices and procedure were evidently borrowed from the
various Vehms and secret societies which then influenced the
Moslem world, and our modern lodges have strictly preserved in
the "Architect of the Universe," Arian and Moslem Unitarianism as
opposed to Athanasian and Christian Tritheism; they admit the Jew
and the Mussulman as apprentices, but they refuse the Hindu and
the Pagan. It seems now the fashion to run down the mystic
charities of the brethren are still active, and the society still
takes an active part in politics throughout the East. As the late
Pope Pius IX. (fitly nicknamed "Pio no-no"), a free mason
himself, forbade Freemasonry to his church because a secret
society is incompatible with oral confession (and priestcraft
tolerates only its own mysteries), and made excommunication the
penalty, the French lodges have dwindled away and the English
have thriven upon their decay, thus enlisting a host of neophytes
who, when the struggle shall come on, may lend excellent aid.
[FN#338] The "Janazah" or bier, is often made of planks loosely
nailed or pegged together into a stretcher or platform, and it
would be easy to thrust a skewer between the joints. I may remind
the reader that "Janazah" = a bier with a corpse thereon (vol.
ii. 46), whereas the "Sarir" is the same when unburdened, and the
"Na'ash" is a box like our coffin, but open at the tip.
[FN#339] [In the Arab. Text "They will recognise me," which I
would rather refer to the Vagabonds than to the crowd, as the
latter merely cries wonder at the resuscitation, without
apparently troubling much about the wonder-worker.--St.]
[FN#340] [Ar. "na'tazu," viii. form of 'aza = it escaped, was
missing, lacked, hence the meaning of this form, "we are in want
of," "we need."--St.]
[FN#341] For the "Ardabb" (prop. "Irdabb") = five bushels: see
vol. i. 263.
[FN#342] [In the MS. "'Ayyinah," probably a mis-reading for
"'Ayniyyah" = a sample, pattern.--St.]
[FN#343] In text "Kubbah" = vault, cupola, the dome of unbaked
brick upon peasants' houses in parts of Egypt and Syria, where
wood for the "Sat'h" or flat roof is scarce. The household
granary is in the garret, from which the base of the dome
springs, and the "expense-magazines" consist of huge standing
coffers of wattle and dab propped against the outside walls of
the house.
[FN#344] Gen. "Baysar" or "Faysar," = beans cooked in honey and
milk. See retro, Night ccclxxxviii., for its laxative properties.
[FN#345] [In the MS. "barbastu," with the dental instead of the
palatal sibilant (Sin instead of Sad). Spelled in the former way
the verb "barbasa" means, he sought, looked for, and is therefore
out of place here. Spelled in the second manner, it signifies
literally, he watered the ground abundantly. Presently we shall
find the passive participle "mubarbasah" in the feminine, because
referring to the noun "Tiz" = anus, which, like its synonym,
"1st," professes the female gender. --St.]
[FN#346] [In Ar. "Mubarbasah," for which see the preceding
note.--St.]
[FN#347] The Moslem's tomb is an arched vault of plastered brick,
large enough for a man to sit up at ease and answer the
Questioning Angels; and the earth must not touch the corpse as it
is supposed to cause torture. In the graves of the poorer classes
a niche (lahad) offsets from the fosse and is rudely roofed with
palm-fronds and thatch. The trick played in the text is therefore
easy; see Lane's illustration M.E. chapt. xviii. The reader will
not forget that all Moslems make water squatting upon their
hunkers ina position hardly possible to an untrained European:
see vol. i. 259.
[FN#348] The bull being used in the East to turn the mill and the
water-wheel; vol. i. 16.
[FN#349] In text "Ratl." See vol. iv. 124.
[FN#350] About 1s. 2d.
[FN#351] The man was therefore in hiding for some crime. [The MS.
has "la tafzah-ni" = Do not rend my reputation, etc. I would,
therefore, translate "Sahib-ha" by "her lover," and suggest that
the crime in question is simply what the French call
"conversation criminelle."--St.]
[FN#352] The "'Isha"-prayer (called in Egypt "'Eshe") consists of
ten "Ruka'at" = bows or inclinations of the body (not "of the
head" as Lane has it, M.E. chapt. iii.): of these four are
"Sunnah" = traditional or customary (of the Prophet), four are
Farz (divinely appointed i.e. by the Koran) and two again Sunnah.
The hour is nightfall when the evening has closed in with some
minor distinctions, e.g. the Hanafi waits till the whiteness and
the red gleam in the west ("Al-Shafak al-ahmar") have wholly
disappeared, and the other three orthodox only till the ruddy
light has waned. The object of avoiding sundowntide (and sunrise
equally) was to distinguish these hours of orisons from those of
the Guebres and other faiths which venerate, or are supposed to
venerate, the sun.
[FN#353] Scott. "History of the Sultan of Hind," vol. vi.
194-209.
[FN#354] Red robes being a sign of displeasure: see vol. iv. 72;
Scott (p. 294) wrongly makes them "robes of mourning."
[FN#355] A Moslem negroid from Central and Western North Africa.
See vol. ii. 15. They share in popular opinion the reputation of
the Maghrabi or Maroccan for magical powers.
[FN#356] This is introduced by the translator; as usual with such
unedited tales, the name does not occur till much after the
proper place for specifying it.
[FN#357] In text "Iz lam naakhaz-ha, wa-illa," &c. A fair
specimen of Arab. ellipsis.--If I catch her not ('twill go hard
with me), and unless (I catch her) I will, &c.
[FN#358] i.e. "How far is the fowl from thee!"
[FN#359] [In the MS. "turayyih," a modern form for
"turawwih."--ST.]
[FN#360] [The above translation pre-supposes the reading "Farkhah
la atammat," and would require, I believe, the conjunction
"hatta" or "ila an" to express "till." I read with the MS. "la
tammat," and would translate: "a chick not yet full grown, when
the crow seized it and flew away with it," as a complaint of the
father for the anticipated untimely end of his son.--ST.]
[FN#361] For "'Aun," a high degree amongst the "Genies," see vol.
iv. p. 83. Readers will be pleased with this description of a
Jinni; and not a few will regret that they have not one at
command. Yet the history of man's locomotion compels us to
believe that we are progressing towards the time when humanity
will become volatile. Pre-historic Adam was condemned to "Shanks
his mare," or to "go on footback," as the Boers have it, and his
earliest step was the chariot; for, curious to say, driving
amongst most peoples preceded riding, as the row-boat forewent
the sailer. But as men increased and the world became smaller and
time shorter the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, after
many abortive attempts, converted the chariot into a railway-car
and the sailer into a steamer. Aerostatics are still in their
infancy and will grow but little until human society shall find
some form of flying an absolute necessity when, as is the history
of all inventions, the winged woman (and her man) of Peter
Wilkins will pass from fiction into fact. But long generations
must come and go before "homo sapiens" can expect to perfect a
practice which in the present state of mundane society would be
fatal to all welfare.
[FN#362] Scott (p. 200) "Welcome to the sovereign of the Aoon,
friendly to his brethren," (siddik al Akhwan) etc. Elsewhere he
speaks of "the Oone."
[FN#363] So he carried a portable "toilette," like a certain
Crown Prince and Prince Bahman in Suppl. vol. iii. 329.
[FN#364] There is another form of the saw in verse:--
Good is good and he's best whoso worketh it first; * And ill is
for me of provisions the worst.
The provision is=viaticum, provaunt for the way.
[The MS. has "akram" and "azlam"="the more generous," "the more
iniquitous," meaning that while good should be requited by good,
and evil provokes further evil in retaliation, the beginner in
either case deserves the greater praise or blame.--ST.]
[FN#365] I have noted (vols. iii. 75, and viii. 266) that there
are two "Soudans" as we write the word, one Eastern upon the
Upper Nile Valley and the other Western and drained by the Niger
water-shed. The former is here meant. It is or should be a word
of shame to English ears after the ungodly murder and massacre of
the gallant "Soudanese" negroids who had ever been most friendly
to us and whom with scant reason to boast we attacked and
destroyed because they aspired to become free from Turkish
task-masters and Egyptian tax-gatherers. That such horrors were
perpetrated by order of one of the most humane amongst our
statesmen proves and decidedly proves one thing, an intense
ignorance of geography and ethnology.
[FN#366] [In the MS. "lawa 'a-hu" for which Sir Richard
conjectures the reading "lawwahahu" taking the pronoun to refer
to the sword. I believe, however, the word to be a clerical error
for our old acquaintance "lawa'a-hu" (see supra p. 203) and,
referring the pronoun in the three verbs to the Lion, would
translate: "and he worried him," etc.--ST.]
[FN#367] Arab. "Al-basharah," see vol. i. 30: Scott has (vi. 204)
"Good tidings to our sovereign."
[FN#368] [The MS. is here rather indistinct; still, as far as I
can make out, it runs: "wa Hakki man aulani haza 'l-Mulk"=and by
the right of (i.e. my duty towards) Him who made me ruler over
this kingdom.--ST.]
[FN#369] [The word in the MS. is difficult to decipher. In a
later passage we find corresponding with it the expression
"yumazasa-hu fii 'l-Kalam," which is evidently a clerical error
for "yumarasa-hu"=he tested or tried him in his speech.
Accordingly I would read here: "yakhburu ma'ahu fi 'l-Kalam,"
lit.=he experimented with him, i.e. put him to his test. The idea
seems to be, that he first cross-examined him and then tried to
intimidate him. With this explanation "yusahi-hu" and later on
"yulhi-hu" would tally, which both have about the same meaning:
to divert the attention, to make forget one thing over another,
hence to confuse and lead one to contradict himself.--ST.]
[FN#370] Here we find the old superstitious idea that no census
or "numbering of the people" should take place save by direct
command of the Creator. Compare the pestilence which arose in the
latter days of David when Joab by command of the King undertook
the work (2 Sam. xxiv. 1-9, etc.).
[FN#371] The text has "Salasin"=thirty, evidently a clerical
error.
[FN#372] [In Ar. "yanjaaru," vii. form of "jaara" (med. Hamzah),
in which the idea of "raising," "lifting up," seems to prevail,
for it is used for raising the voice in prayer to God, and for
the growing high of plants.--ST.]
[FN#373] The text, which is wholly unedited, reads, "He found the
beasts and their loads (? the camels) and the learned men," &c. A
new form of "Bos atque sacerdos" and of place pour les anes et
les savants, as the French soldiers cried in Egypt when the
scientists were admitted into the squares of infantry formed
against the doughty Mameluke cavalry.
[FN#374] [In the MS. "waraytani ila l-turab"=thou hast given me
over to the ground for concealment, iii. form of "wara," which
takes the meaning of "hiding," "keeping secret."--ST.]
[FN#375] [The MS. has "wa dazz-ha," which is an evident
corruption. The translator, placing the diacritical point over
the first radical instead of the second, reads "wa zarr-ha," and
renders accordingly. But if in the MS. the dot is misplaced, the
Tashdid over it would probably also belong to the Dal, resp. Zal,
and as it is very feasible that a careless writer should have
dropped one Waw before another, I am inclined to read "wa
wazzar-ha" = "and he left her," "let her go," "set her free." In
classical Arabic only the imperative "Zar," and the aorist
"yazaru" of the verb "wazara" occur in this sense, while the
preterite is replaced by "taraka," or some other synonym. But the
language of the common people would not hesitate to use a form
scorned by the grammarians, and even to improve upon it by
deriving from it one of their favourite intensives.--St.]
[FN#376] Both are civil forms of refusal: for the first see vols.
i. 32; vi. 216; and for the second ix. 309.
[FN#377] Everything being fair in love and war and dealing with a
"Kafir," i.e. a non-Moslem.
[FN#378] In text "Labbayka" = here am I: see vol. i. 226.
[FN#379] In text "'éd Khayzaran" - wood of the rattan, which is
orig. "Rota," from the Malay "Rotan." Vol. ii. 66, &c.
[FN#380] [In the MS. "al-Zaman." The translation here adopted is
plausible enough. Still I think it probable that the careless
scribe has omitted the words "ya al-Malik" before it, and meant
to write "O king of the age!" as in so many preceding places.-
-St.]
[FN#381] Arab. "Al-Kuhna," plur. Of "Kahin 't" = diviner, priest
(non-Levitical): see "Cohen," ii. 221. [The form is rather
curious. The Dictionaries quote "Kuhna" as a Syriac singular, but
here it seems to be taken as a plural of the measure "fu'ala"
(Kuhana), like Umara of Amir or Shu'ara of Sha'ir. The usual
plurals of Kahin are Kahanah and Kuhhan.--St.]
[FN#382] This is a celebrated incident in "Alaeddin," "New lamps
for old:" See Suppl. vol. iii. 119.
[FN#383] In text "Jazdan" = a pencase (Pers.) more pop. called
"Kalamdan" = reed-box, vol. iv. 167: Scott (p. 212) has a
"writing-stand." It appears a queer place wherein to keep a ring,
but Easterns often store in these highly ornamented boxes signets
and other small matters.
[FN#384] Arab. "Bahr al-Muhit" = Circumambient Ocean; see vol. i.
133.
[FN#385] Arab. "Far" (plur. "Firan") = mouse rather than rat.
[FN#386] Sleep at this time is considered very unwholesome by
Easterns. See under "Kaylulah" = siesta, vols. i. 51; ii. 178,
and viii. 191.
[FN#387] Modern science which, out of the depths of its
self-consciousness, has settled so many disputed questions,
speaking by the organs of Messieurs Woodman and Tidy ("Medical
Jurisprudence") has decided that none of the lower animals can
bear issue to man. But the voice of the world is against them and
as Voltaire says one cannot be cleverer than everybody. To begin
with there is the will: the she-quadruman shows a distinct lust
for man by fondling him and displaying her parts as if to entice
him. That carnal connection has actually taken place cannot be
doubted: my late friend Mirza Ali Akbar, of Bombay, the famous
Munshi to Sir Charles Napier during the conquest of Sind, a man
perfectly veracious and trustworthy, assured me that in the
Gujarat province he had witnessed a case with his own eyes. He
had gone out "to the jungle," as the phrase is, with another
Moslem who, after keeping him waiting for an unconscionable time,
was found carnally united to a she-monkey. My friend, indignant
as a good Moslem should be, reproved him for his bestiality and
then asked him how it had come to pass: the man answered that the
she-monkey came regularly to look at him on certain occasions,
that he was in the habit of throwing her something to eat and
that her gratitude displayed such sexuality that he was tempted
and "fell." That the male monkey shows an equal desire for the
woman is known to every frequenter of the "Zoo." I once led a
party of English girls to see a collection of mandrill and other
anthropoid apes in the Menagerie of a well-known Russian
millionaire, near Florence, when the Priapism displayed was such
that the girls turned back and fled in fright. In the
mother-lands of these anthropoids (the Gaboon, Malacca etc.) the
belief is universal and women have the liveliest fear of them. In
1853 when the Crimean war was brewing a dog-faced baboon in Cairo
broke away from his "Kuraydati" (ape-leader), threw a girl in the
street and was about to ravish her when a sentinel drew his
bayonet and killer the beast. The event was looked upon as an
evil omen by the older men, who shook their heads and declared
that these were bad times when apes attempted to ravish the
daughters of Moslems. But some will say that the grand test, the
existence of the mule between man and monkey, though generally
believed in, is characteristically absent, absent as the "missing
link" which goes so far as to invalidate Darwinism in one and
perhaps the most important part of its contention. Of course the
offspring of such union would be destroyed, yet t he fact of our
never having found a trace of it except in legend and idle story
seems to militate against its existence. When, however, man shall
become "Homo Sapiens" he will cast off the prejudices of the
cradle and the nursery and will ascertain by actual experiment if
human being and monkey can breed together. The lowest order of
bimana, and the highest order of quadrumana may, under most
favourable circumstances, bear issue and the "Mule," who would
own half a soul, might prove most serviceable as a hewer of wood
and a drawer of water, in fact as an agricultural labourer. All
we can say is that such "miscegenation" stands in the category of
things not proven and we must object to science declaring them
non-existing. A correspondent favours me with the following note
upon the subject:--Castanheda (Annals of Portugal) relates that a
woman was transporter to an island inhabited by monkeys and took
up her abode in a cavern where she was visited by a huge baboon.
He brought her apples and fruit and at last had connection with
her, the result being two children in two to three years; but
when she was being carrier off by a ship the parent monkey kissed
his progeny. The woman was taken to Lisbon and imprisoned for
life by the King. Langius, Virgilius Polydorus and others quote
many instances of monstruous births in Rome resulting from the
connection of women with dogs and bears, and cows with horses,
&c. The following relative conditions are deduced on the
authority of MM. Jean Polfya and Mauriceau:--1. If the sexual
organism of man or woman be more powerful than that of the
monkey, dog, etc. the result will be a monster in the semblance
of man. 2. If vice-versa the appearance will be that of a beast.
3. If both are equal the result will be a distinct sub-species as
of the horse with the ass.
[FN#388] Arab. "Tanim" (plur. of Tamimit) = spells, charms,
amulets, as those hung to a horse's neck, the African Greegree
and the Heb. Thummim. As was the case with most of these earliest
superstitions, the Serpent, the Ark, the Cherubim, the Golden
Calf (Apis) and the Levitical Institution, the Children of Israel
derived the now mysterious term "Urim" (lights) and "Thummim"
(amulets) from Egypt and the Semitic word (Tamimah) still remains
to explain the Hebrew. "Thummim," I may add, is by "general
consensus" derived from "Tom" = completeness and is englished
"Perfection," but we can find a better origin near at hand in
spoken Arabic.
[FN#389] These verses have already occurred, see my vol. i. p.
275. I have therefore quoted Payne, i. p. 246.
[FN#390] Arab. "Wakil" who, in the case of a grown-up girl,
declares her consent to the marriage in the presence of two
witnesses and after part payment of the dowry.
[FN#391] Such is the meaning of the Arab. "Thayyib."
[FN#392] This appears to be the popular belief in Egypt. See vol.
iv. 297, which assures us that "no thing poketh and stroketh more
strenuously than the Gird" (or hideous Ahyssinian cynocephalus).
But it must be based upon popular ignorance: the private parts of
the monkey although they erect stiffly, like the priapus of
Osiris when swearing upon his Phallus, are not of the girth
sufficient to produce that friction which is essential to a
woman's pleasure. I may here allude to the general disappointment
in England and America caused by the exhibition of my friend Paul
de Chaillu's Gorillas: he had modestly removed penis and
testicles, the latter being somewhat like a bull's, and his
squeamishness caused not a little grumbling and sense of
grievance--especially amongst the curious sex.
[FN#393] [In the MS. "fahakat," lit. she flowed over like a
brimful vessel.--ST.]
[FN#394] In 1821, Scott (p. 214) following Gilchrist's method of
transliterating eastern tongues wrote "Abou Neeut" and "Neeuteen"
(the latter a bad blunder making a masc. plural of a fem. dual).
In 1822 Edouard Gauttier (vi. 320) gallicised the names to "Abou-
Nyout" and "Abou-Nyoutyn" with the same mistake and one
superadded; there is no such Arabic word as "Niyut." Mr. Kirby
in 1822, "The New Arabian Nights" (p. 366) reduced the words to
"Abu Neut" and "Abu Neuteen," which is still less intelligible
than Scott's; and, lastly, the well-known Turkish scholar Dr.
Redhouse converted the tortured names to "Abu Niyyet" and "Abu
Niyyeteyn," thus rightly giving a "tashdid" (reduplication sign)
to the Ya (see Appendix p. 430 to Suppl. Vol. No iii. and Turk.
Dict. sub voce "Niyyat"). The Arab. is "Niyyah" = will, purpose,
intent; "Abu Niyyah" (Grammat. "Abu Niyyatin") Father of one
Intent = single-minded and "Abu Niyyatayn" = Father of two
Intents or double-minded; and Richardson is deficient when he
writes only "Niyat" for "Niyyat." I had some hesitation about
translating this tale which begins with the "Envier and the
Envied" (vol. i. 123) and ends with the "Sisters who envied their
Cadette" (Supple. vol. iii. 313). But the extant versions of it
are so imperfect in English and French that I made up my mind to
include it in this collection.--[Richardson's "Niyat" is rather
another, although rarer form of the same word.--St.]
[FN#395] [I read: "wa tukarribu 'I-'abda ilayya," referring the
verb to "al-Sadakh" (the alms) and translating: "and it bringeth
the servant near to me," the speaker, in Coranic fashion supposed
to be Allah.--St.]
[FN#396] The text prefers the Egyptian form "Sherifi" pl.
"Sherifiyah," which was adopted by the Portuguese.
[FN#397] The grace after meat, "Bismillah" being that which
precedes it. Abu Niyyah was more grateful than a youth of my
acquaintance who absolutely declined asking the Lord to "make him
truly thankful" after a dinner of cold mutton.
[FN#398] [The root "Kart" is given in the dictionaries merely to
introduce the word "karit" = complete, speaking of a year, &c.,
and "Takrit," the name of a town in Mesopotamia, celebrated for
its velvets and as the birth-place of Saladin. According to the
first mentioned word I would take the signification of "Kart" to
"complement" which here may fitly be rendered by "remainder," for
that which with regard to the full contents of the dinner tray is
their complement would of course be their remainder with regard
to the viands that have been eaten.--St.]
[FN#399] For the "Zakat" = legal alms, which must not be less
than two-and-a-half per cent, see vol. i. 339.
[FN#400] In text "Kazdir," for which see vols. iv. 274 and vi.
39. Here is may allude to the canisters which make great show in
the general store of a petty shopkeeper.
[FN#401] [The MS. reads "murafraf" (passive) from, "Rafraf" = a
shelf, arch, anything overhanging something else, there here
applying either to the eyebrows as overhanging the eyes, or to
the sockets, as forming a vault or cave for them. Perhaps it
should be "murafrif" (active part), used of a bird, who spreads
his wings and circles round his prey, ready to pounce upon it;
hence with prying, hungry, greedy eyes.--St.]
[FN#402] Arab. "Niyyah" with the normal pun upon the name.
[FN#403] Arab. "'Amil Rasad," lit. acting as an observatory: but
the style is broken as usual, and to judge from the third line
below the sentence may signify "And I am acting as Talisman (to
the Hoard)".
[FN#404] In the text "Ishari," which may have many meanings: I
take a "shot" at the most likely. In "The Tale of the Envier and
the Envied" the counter-spell in a fumigation by means of some
white hair plucked from a white spot, the size of a dirham, at
the tail-end of a black tom-cat (vol. i. 124). According to the
Welsh legend, "the Devil hates cocks"--I suppose since that fowl
warned Peter of his fall.
[FN#405] In text "Yaum al-Ahad," which begins the Moslem week:
see vols. iii. 249, and vi. 190.
[FN#406] [In Ar. "Harj wa Laght." The former is generally
joined with "Marj" (Harj wa Marj) to express utter confusion,
chaos, anarchy. "Laght" (also pronounced Laghat and written with
the palatal "t") has been mentioned supra p. 11 as a synonym of
"Jalabah" = clamour, tumult, etc.--St.]
[FN#407] [In Ar. "yahjubu," aor. Of "hajaba" = he veiled, put
out of sight, excluded, warded off. Amongst other significations
the word is technically used of a nearer degree of relationship
excluding entirely or partially a more distant one from
inheritance.--St.]
[FN#408] Arab. "Yaum al-Jum'ah" = Assembly-day, Friday: see
vol. vi. 120.
[FN#409] A regular Badawi remedy. This Artemisia (Arab. Shayh),
which the Dicts. translate "wormwood of Pontus," is the sweetest
herb of the Desert, and much relished by the wild men: see my
"Pilgrimage," vol. i. 228. The Finnish Arabist Wallin, who died
Professor of Arabic at Helsingfors, speaks of a "Farashat al-
Shayh" = a carpet of wormwood.
[FN#410] "Sahibi-h," the masculine; because, as the old grammar
tells us, that gender is more worthy than the feminine.
[FN#411] i.e., his strength was in the old: see vol. i. 340.
[FN#412] Arab. "Haysumah" = smooth stones (water-rounded?).
[FN#413] For "his flesh was crushed upon his bones," a fair
specimen of Arab. "Metonomy-cum-hyperbole." In the days when Mr.
John Bull boasted of his realism versus Gallic idealism, he "got
wet to the skin" when M. Jean Crapaud was mouille jusqu'aux os.
For the Angels supposed to haunt a pure and holy well, and the
trick played by Ibn Tumart, see Ibn Khaldun's Hist. of the
Berbers, vol. ii. 575.
[FN#414] Here begins the second tale which is a weak replica of
Galland's "Two Sisters," &c.
[FN#415] This is the usual term amongst savages and barbarians,
and during that period the father has no connection with the
mother. Civilisation has abolished this natural practice which
is observed by all the lower animals and has not improved human
matters. For an excellent dissertation on the subject see the
letter on Polygamy by Mrs. Belinda M. Pratt, in "The City of the
Saints," p. 525.
[FN#416] In text "Kuwayyis," dim. of "Kayyis," and much used in
Egypt as an adj. = "pretty," "nice," and as an adv. "well,"
"nicely." See s.v. Spitta Bey's Glossary to Contes Arabes
Modernes. The word is familiar to the travellers in the Nile-
valley.
[FN#417] In Arab. a "Kanat;" see vol. iii. 141. The first
occupation came from nature; the second from seeing the work of
the adopted father.
[FN#418] Abu Niyyah, like most house masters in the East, not to
speak of Kings, was the last to be told a truth familiar to
everyone but himself and his wife.
[FN#419] The MS. breaks off abruptly at this sentence and
evidently lacks finish. Scott (vi., 228) adds, "The young
princes were acknowledged and the good Abou Neeut had the
satisfaction of seeing them grow up to follow his example."
In the MS. this tale is followed by a "Story of his own
Adventures related by a connection to an Emir of Egypt." I have
omitted it because it is a somewhat fade replica of "The Lovers
of the Banu Ozrah" (Vol. vii. 177; Lane iii. 247).
[FN#420] Mr. Chandler remarks (p. 25, "On Lending Bodleian Books,
&c."):--"It is said that the Curators can refuse any application
if they choose; of course they can, but as a matter of fact no
application has ever been refused, and every name added will make
it more and more difficult, more and more invidious to refuse
anyone." I have, therefore, the singular honour of being the
first chosen for rejection.
[FN#421] Mr. Chandler's motion (see p. 28, "Booklending, &c.")
was defeated by an amendment prepared by Professor Jowett and the
former fought, with mixed success, the report of the Committee of
Loans; the document being so hacked as to become useless, and, in
this mangled condition, it was referred back to the Committee
with a recommendation to consider the best way of carrying out
the present statute. The manly and straightforward course of at
once proposing a new statute was not adopted, nor was it even
formally proposed. Lastly, the applications for loans, which
numbered sixteen were submitted to the magnates and were all
refused! whilst the application of an Indian subject that MSS. be
sent to the India Office for his private use was at once granted.
In my case Professors B. Price and Max Muller, who had often
voted for loans, and were willing enough to lend anything to
anybody, declined to vote.
[FN#422] According to the statutes, "The Chancellor must be
acquainted with the Business (of altering laws concerning the
Library), and he must approve, and refer it to the Head of
Houses, else no dispensation can be proposed."
[FN#423] The following telegram from the Vienna correspondent of
"The Times" (November 16, 1886), is worth quotation:--
"The Committee of the Vienna Congress (of Orientalists) is now
preparing a memorial, which will be signed by Archduke Renier,
and will be forwarded in a few days to the trustees of the
British Museum and to the Secretary of State, praying that a Bill
may be introduced into Parliament empowering the British Museum
to lend out its Oriental MSS. to foreign savants under proper
guarantees. A resolution pledging the members of the Oriental
Congress to this course was passed at the Congress of Leyden, in
1883, on the motion of Professor D. H. Muller, of Vienna; but it
has not yet been acted upon so thoroughly as will be the case
now.
"The British Museum is the only great library in Europe which
does not lend out its MSS. to foreigners. The university and
court libraries of Vienna, the royal and state libraries of
Berlin and Munich, those of Copenhagen and Leyden, and
Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris all are very liberal in their
loans to well-recommended foreigners. In Paris a diplomatic
introduction is required. In Munich the library does not lend
directly to the foreign borrower; but sends to the library of the
capital whence the borrower may have made his application, and
leaves all responsibility to that library. In the other
libraries, the discretion is left to the librarian, who generally
lends without any formalities beyond ascertaining the bona fides
and trustworthiness of the applicant. In Vienna, however, there
has occasionally been some little excess of formality, so a
petition is about to be presented to the Emperor by the
University professors, begging that the privilege of borrowing
may be considered as general, and not as depending on the favour
of an official.
"As regards Oriental MSS., it is remarked that the guarantees
need not be so minute as in the case of old European MSS., which
are often unique copies. According to the learned Professor of
Sanskrit in this city, Herr George Buhler, there are very few
unique Oriental MSS. in existence of Sanskrit--perhaps not a
dozen."
[FN#424] (1.) "On Lending Bodleian Books and Manuscripts" (not
published). June 10, 1866; (2) Appendix. Barlow's Argument. June,
1866; (3) On Book-lending as practised at the Bodleian Library.
July 27, 1886; Baxter, Printer, Oxford. The three papers abound
in earnestness and energy; but they have the "defects of their
qualities," as the phrase is; and the subject often runs away
with the writer. A single instance will suffice. No. i. p. 23
says, "In a library like the Bodleian, where the practice of
lending prevails as it now does, a man may put himself to great
inconvenience in order to visit it; he may even travel from
Berlin, and when he arrives he may find that all his trouble has
been in vain, the very book he wants is out." This must have been
written during the infancy of Sir Rowland Hill, and when
telegrams were unknown to mankind; all that the Herr has to do in
our times is to ask per wire if the volume be at home or not.
[FN#425] Chandler, "On Lending Bodleian Books," etc., p. 18.
[FN#426] Koran, xxiii. 14.
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