Chapter XXV: Part 25

[FN#137] This sounds ridiculous enough in English, but not in German, e.g. Deine K˜nigliche Hoheit is the formula de rigueur when an Austrian officer, who always addresses brother-soldiers in the familiar second person, is speaking to a camarade who is also a royalty.

[FN#138] "Suráyyát (lit. = the Pleiades) and "Sham'ádín" a would-be Arabic plur. of the Persian "Sham'adán"=candlestick, chandelier, for which more correctly Sham'adánát is used.

[FN#139] i.e., betrothed to her--j'agr⁄e la proposition, says Galland.

[FN#140] Here meaning Eunuch-officers and officials. In the cdlxxvith Night of this volume the word is incorrectly written ghát in the singular.

[FN#141] In the H. V. Alaeddin on hearing this became as if a thunderbolt had stricken him, and losing consciousness, swooned away.

[FN#142] These calls for food at critical times, and oft- recurring allusions to eating are not yet wholly obsolete amongst the civilised of the xixth century. The ingenious M. Jules Verne often enlivens a tedious scene by Dejeunons! And French travellers, like English, are not unready to talk of food and drink, knowing that the subject is never displeasing to their readers.

[FN#143] The H. V. gives a sketch of the wedding. "And when the ceremonies ended at the palace with pomp and parade and pageant, and the night was far spent, the eunuchs led the Wazir's son into the bridal chamber. He was the first to seek his couch; then the Queen his mother-in-law, came into him leading the bride, and followed by her suite. She did with her virgin daughter as parents are wont to do, removed her wedding-raiment, and donning a night-dress, placed her in her bridegroom's arms. Then, wishing her all joy, she with her ladies went away and shut the door. At that instant came the Jinni," etc.

[FN#144] The happy idea of the wedding night in the water-closet is repeated from the tale of Nur-al-Dín Ali Hasan (vol. i. 221), and the mishap of the Hunchback bridegroom.

[FN#145] For the old knightly practice of sleeping with a drawn sword separating man and maid see vol. vii. 353 and Mr. Clouston's "Popular Tales and Fictions," vol. i. 316. In Poland the intermediary who married by procuration slept alongside the bride in all his armour. The H. V. explains, "He (Alaeddin) also lay a naked sword between him and the Princess so she might perceive that he was ready to die by that blade should he attempt to do aught of villainy by the bride."

[FN#146] Galland says: Ils ne s'aperçurent que de l'⁄branlement du lit et que de leur transport d'un lieu á l'autre: c'⁄tait bien assez pour leur donner une frayeur qu'il est ais⁄ d'imaginer.

[FN#147] Galland very unnecessarily makes the Wazir's son pass into the wardrobe (garderobe) to dress himself.

[FN#148] Professional singing and dancing girls: Properly the word is the fem. Of ' lim = a learned man; but it has been anglicised by Byron's

"The long chibouque's dissolving cloud supply
Where dance the Almahs to wild minstrelsy."
--(The Corsair, ii. 2.)

They go about the streets with unveiled faces and are seldom admitted into respectable Harems, although on festal occasions they perform in the court or in front of the house, but even this is objected to by the Mrs. Grundy of Egypt. Lane (M.E. chap. xviii.) derives with Saint Jerome the word from the Heb. or Phoenician Almah = a virgin, a girl, a singing- girl; and thus explains "Alámoth" in Psalms xlvi. and I Chron. xv. 20. Parkhurst (s.v. 'Alamah = an undeflowered virgin) renders Job xxxix. 30, "the way of a man with a maid" (bi-álmah). The way of a man in his virgin state, shunning youthful lust and keeping himself "pure and unspotted."

[FN#149] The text reads "Rafa' " (he raised) "al-Bashkhánah" which in Suppl. Nights (ii. 119) is a hanging, a curtain. Apparently it is a corruption of the Pers. "Paskhkhánah," a mosquito-curtain.

[FN#150] The father suspected that she had not gone to bed a clean maid.

[FN#151] Arab. Aysh = Ayyu Shayyin and Laysh = li ayyi Shayyin. This vulgarism, or rather popular corruption, is of olden date and was used by such a purist as Al-Mutanabbi in such a phrase as "Aysh Khabara-k?" = how art thou? See Ibn Khallikan, iii. 79.

[FN#152] In the H. V. the Minister sends the Chob-dár= = rod- bearer, mace-bearer, usher, etc.

[FN#153] In the text Sáhal for Sahal, again the broad "Doric" of Syria.

[FN#154] Arab. Dahab ramli = gold dust washed out of the sand, placer-gold. I must excuse myself for using this Americanism, properly a diluvium or deposit of sand, and improperly (Bartlett) a find of drift gold. The word, like many mining terms in the Far West, is borrowed from the Spaniards; it is not therefore one of the many American vulgarisms which threaten hopelessly to defile the pure well of English speech.

[FN#155] Abra. "Ratl," by Europeans usually pronounced "Rotl" (Rotolo).

[FN#156] In the H. V. she returns from the bazar; and, "seeing the house filled with so many persons in goodliest attire, marvelled greatly. Then setting down the meat lately bought she would have taken off her veil, but Alaeddin prevented her and said," etc.

[FN#157] The word is popularly derived from Serai in Persian = a palace; but it comes from the Span. and Port. Cerrar = to shut up, and should be written with the reduplicated liquid.

[FN#158] In the H. V. the dresses and ornaments of the slaves were priced at ten millions (Karúr a crore) of gold coins. I have noticed that Messer Marco "Milione" did not learn his high numerals in Arabia, but that India might easily have taught them to him.

[FN#159] Arab. "Ráih yasír," peasant's language.

[FN#160] Arab. Ká'ah, the apodyterium or undressing room upon which the vestibule of the Hammam opens. See the plan in Lane's M. E. chaps. xvi. The Kár'ah is now usually called "Maslakh" = stripping-room.

[FN#161] Arab. "Hammam-hu" = went through all the operations of the Hammam, scraping, kneading, soaping, wiping and so forth.

[FN#162] For this aphrodisiac see vol. vi. 60. The subject of aphrodisiacs in the East would fill a small library: almost every medical treatise ends in a long disquisition upon fortifiers, provocatives' etc. We may briefly divide them into three great classes. The first is the medicinal, which may be either external or internal. The second is the mechanical, such as scarification' flagellation, and the application of insects as practiced by certain savage races. There is a venerable Joe Miller of an old Brahmin whose young wife always insisted, each time before he possessed her, upon his being stung by a bee in certain parts. The third is magical superstitious and so forth

[FN#163] This may sound exaggerated to English ears, but a petty Indian Prince, such as the Gáikwár, or Rajah of Baroda, would be preceded in state processions by several led horses all whose housings and saddles were gold studded with diamonds. The sight made one's mouth water.

[FN#164] i.e. the 'Arab al-'Arbá; for which see vols. i. 112; v. 101.

[FN#165] Arab. "Al-Kandíl al-'ajíb:" here its magical virtues are specified and remove many apparent improbabilities from the tale.

[FN#166] This was the highest of honours. At Abyssinian Harar even the Grandees were compelled to dismount at the door of the royal "compound." See my "First Footsteps in East Africa," p. 296.

[FN#167] "The right hand" seems to me a European touch in Galland's translation, leur chef mit Aladdin a sa droite. Amongst Moslems the great man sits in the sinistral corner of the Divan as seen from the door, so the place of honour is to his left.

[FN#168] Arab. "Músiká," classically "Musikí" ={Greek}: the Pers. form is Músikár; and the Arab. equivalent is Al-Lahn. In the H. V. the King made a signal and straightway drums (dhol) and trumpets (trafír) and all manner wedding instruments struck up on every side.

[FN#169] Arab. Marmar Sumáki=porphyry of which ancient Egypt supplied the finest specimens. I found a vein of it in the Anti- Libanus. Strange to say, the quarries which produced the far- famed giallo antico, verd' antico (serpentine limestone) and rosso antico (mostly a porphyry) worked by the old Nilotes, are now unknown to us.

[FN#170] i.e. velvets with gold embroidery: see vol. viii. 201.

[FN#171] The Arabic says, "There was a kiosque with four-and- twenty alcoves (Líwán, for which see vols. iv. 71, vi. 347) all builded of emerald, etc., and one remained with the kiosque (kushk) unfinished." I adopt Galland's reading salon á vingt- quatre crois⁄es which are mentioned in the Arab. text towards the end of the tale, and thus avoid the confusion between kiosque and window. In the H. V. there is a domed belvedere (bárah-dari-i- gumbaz-dár), four-sided, with six doors on each front (i. e. twenty-four), and all studded with diamonds, etc.

[FN#172] In Persia this is called "Pá-andáz," and must be prepared for the Shah when he deigns to visit a subject. It is always of costly stuffs, and becomes the perquisite of the royal attendants.

[FN#173] Here the European hand again appears to me: the Sultan as a good Moslem should have made the Wuzú-ablution and prayed the dawn-prayers before doing anything worldly.

[FN#174] Arab. Fí ghuzúni zálika," a peculiar phrase, Ghazn=a crease, a wrinkle.

[FN#175] In the H. V. the King "marvelled to see Alaeddin's mother without her veil and magnificently adorned with costly jewels and said in his mind, 'Methought she was a grey-haired crone, but I find her still in the prime of life and comely to look upon, somewhat after the fashion of Badr al-Budúr.' " This also was one of the miracles of the Lamp.

[FN#176] For this word see vols. i. 46, vii. 326. A Joe Miller is told in Western India of an old General Officer boasting his knowledge of Hindostani. "How do you say, Tell a plain story, General?" asked one of the hearers, and the answer was, "Maydán kí bát bolo!" = "speak a word about the plain" (or level space).

[FN#177] The prehistoric Arabs: see supra p. 98.

[FN#178] Popularly, Jeríd, the palm-frond used as javelin: see vol. vi. 263.

[FN#179] In order to keep off the evil eye, one of the functions of iron and steel: see vol. ii. 316.

[FN#180] The H. V. adds, "Little did the Princess know that the singers were fairies whom the Slave of the Lamp had brought together."

[FN#181] Alexander the Great: see v. 252, x. 57. The H. V. adds, "Then only one man and one woman danced together, one with other, till midnight, when Alaeddin and the Princess stood up, for it was the wont of China in those days that bride and bridegroom perform together in presence of the wedding company."

[FN#182] The exceptional reserve of this and other descriptions makes M. H. Zotenberg suspect that the tale was written for one of the Mameluke Princesses: I own to its modesty but I doubt that such virtue would have recommended it to the dames in question. The H. V. adds a few details:--"Then, when the bride and bridegroom had glanced and gazed each at other's face, the Princess rejoiced with excessive joy to behold his comeliness, and he exclaimed, in the courtesy of his gladness, 'O happy me, whom thou deignest, O Queen of the Fair, to honour despite mine unworth, seeing that in thee all charms and graces are perfected.' "

[FN#183] The term has not escaped ridicule amongst Moslems. A common fellow having stood in his way the famous wit Abú al-'Ayná asked "What is that?" "A man of the Sons of Adam" was the reply. "Welcome, welcome," cried the other, "Allah grant thee length of days. I deemed that all his sons were dead." See Ibn Khallikan iii. 57.

[FN#184] This address to an inanimate object (here a window) is highly idiomatic and must be cultivated by the practical Arabist. In the H. V. the unfinished part is the four-and-twentieth door of the fictitious (ja'alí) palace.

[FN#185] This is true Orientalism, a personification or incarnation which Galland did not think proper to translate.

[FN#186] Arab. "La'ab al-Andáb;" the latter word is from "Nadb" = brandishing or throwing the javelin.

[FN#187] The "mothers" are the prime figures, the daughters being the secondary. For the " 'Ilm al-Ram!" = (Science of the sand) our geomancy, see vol. iii. 269, and D'Herbelot's sub. v. Raml or Reml.

[FN#188] This is from Galland, whose certaine boisson chaude evidently means tea. It is preserved in the H.V.

[FN#189] i.e. his astrolabe, his "Zíj" or table of the stars, his almanack, etc. For a highly fanciful derivation of the "Arstable" see Ibn Khallikan (iii. 580). He makes it signify "balance or lines (Pers. 'Astur') of the sun," which is called "Láb" as in the case of wicked Queen Láb (The Nights, vol. vii. 296). According to him the Astrolabe was suggested to Ptolemy by an armillary sphere which had accidentally been flattened by the hoof of his beast: this is beginning late in the day, the instrument was known to the ancient Assyrians. Chardin (Voyages ii. 149) carefully describes the Persian variety of--

"The cunning man highs Sidrophil

(as Will. Lilly was called). Amongst other things he wore at his girdle an astrolabe not bigger than the hollow of a man's hand, often two to three inches in diameter and looking at a distance like a medal." These men practiced both natural astrology = astronomy, as well as judicial astrology which foretells events and of which Kepler said that "she, albeit a fool, was the daughter of a wise mother, to whose support and life the silly maid was indispensable." Isidore of Seville (A. D. 600-636) was the first to distinguish between the two branches, and they flourished side by side till Newton's day. Hence the many astrological terms in our tongue, e.g. consider, contemplate, disaster, jovial, mercurial, saturnine, etc.

[FN#190] In the H. V. "New brass lamps for old ones! who will exchange ?" So in the story of the Fisherman's son, a Jew who had been tricked of a cock, offers to give new rings for old rings. See Jonathan Scott's excerpts from the Wortley-Montague MSS. vol. vi. pp. 210 12 This is one of the tales which I have translated for vol. iv.

[FN#191] The H. V. adds that Alaeddin loved to ride out a- hunting and had left the city for eight days whereof three had passed by.

[FN#192] Galland makes her say, H⁄ bien folle, veux-tu me dire pourqoui tu ris? The H. V. renders "Cease, giddy head, why laughest thou?" and the vulgate "Well, giggler," said the Princess, etc.

[FN#193] Nothing can be more improbable than this detail, but upon such abnormal situations almost all stones, even in our most modern "Society-novels," depend and the cause is clear--without them there would be no story. And the modern will, perhaps, suggest that "the truth was withheld for a higher purpose, for the working out of certain ends." In the H. V Alaeddin, when about to go a-hunting, always placed the Lamp high up on the cornice with all care lest any touch it.

[FN#194] The H. V. adds, "The Magician, when he saw the Lamp, at once knew that it must be the one he sought; for he knew that all things, great and small, appertaining to the palace

[FN#195] In truly Oriental countries the Wazir is expected to know everything, and if he fail in this easy duty he may find himself in sore trouble.

[FN#196] i.e. must he obeyed.

[FN#197] We see that "China" was in those days the normal Oriental "despotism tempered by assassination."

[FN#198] In the H. V. Alaeddin promises, "if I fail to find and fetch the Princess, I will myself cut off my head and cast it before the throne." Hindus are adepts in suicide and this self- decapitation, which sounds absurd further West, is quite possible to them.

[FN#199] In Galland Alaeddin unconsciously rubbed the ring against un petit roc, to which he clung in order to prevent falling into the stream. In the H. V. "The bank was high and difficult of descent and the youth would have rolled down headlong had he not struck upon a rock two paces from the bottom and remained hanging over the water. This mishap was of the happiest for during his fall he struck the stone and rubbed his ring against it," etc.

[FN#200] In the H. V. he said, "First save me that I fall not into the stream and then tell me where is the pavilion thou builtest for her and who hath removed it."

[FN#201] Alluding to the preparatory washing, a mere matter of cleanliness which precedes the formal Wuzú-ablution.

[FN#202] In the H. V. the Princess ends with, "I had made this resolve that should he approach me with the design to win his wish perforce, I would destroy my life. By day and by night I abode in fear of him; but now at the sight of thee my heart is heartened."

[FN#203] The Fellah had a natural fear of being seen in fine gear, which all would have supposed to be stolen goods; and Alaeddin was justified in taking it perforce, because necessitas non habet legem. See a similar exchange of dress in Spitta-Bey's "Contes Arabes Modernes," p. 91. In Galland the peasant when pressed consents; and in the H. V. Alaeddin persuades him by a gift of money.

[FN#204] i.e. which would take effect in the shortest time.

[FN#205] Her modesty was startled by the idea of sitting: at meat with a strange man and allowing him to make love to her.

[FN#206] In the text Kidí, pop. for Ka-zálika. In the H. V. the Magician replies to the honeyed speech of the Princess, "O my lady, we in Africa have not so gracious customs as the men of China. This day I have learned of thee a new courtesy which I shall ever keep in mind."

[FN#207] Galland makes the Princess poison the Maghrabi, which is not gallant. The H. V. follows suit and describes the powder as a mortal poison.

[FN#208] Contrast this modesty with the usual scene of reunion after severance, as in the case of Kamar al-Zamán and immodest Queen Budúr, vol. iii. pp. 302-304.

[FN#209] His dignity forbade him to walk even the length of a carpet: see vol. vii. for this habit of the Mameluke Beys. When Harun al-Rashid made his famous pilgrimage afoot from Baghdad to Meccah (and he was the last of the Caliphs who performed this rite), the whole way was spread with a "Pá-andáz" of carpets and costly cloths.

[FN#210] The proverb suggests our "par nobile fratrum," a pair resembling each other as two halves of a split bean.

[FN#211] In the H. V. "If the elder Magician was in the East, the other was in the West; but once a year, by their skill in geomancy, they had tidings of each other."

[FN#212] The act was religiously laudable, but to the Eastern, as to the South European mind, fair play is not a jewel; moreover the story-teller may insinuate that vengeance would be taken only by foul and unlawful means--the Black Art, perjury, murder and so forth

[FN#213] For this game, a prime favourite in Egypt, see vol. vi. 145, De Sacy (Chrestomathie i. 477) and his authorities Hyde, Syntagma Dissert. ii. 374, P. Labat, "Memoires du Chev d'Arvieux," iii. 321; Thevenot, "Voyage du Levant," p. 107, and Niebuhr, "Voyages," i. 139, Plate 25, fig. H.

[FN#214] Evidently="(jeu de) dames" (supposed to have been invented in Paris during the days of the Regency: see Littr⁄); and, although in certain Eastern places now popular, a term of European origin. It is not in Galland. According to Ibn Khallikan (iii. 69) "Nard" = tables, arose with King Ardashír son of Babuk, and was therefore called Nardashír (Nard Ardashír? ). He designed it as an image of the world and its people, so the board had twelve squares to represent the months; the thirty pieces or men represented the days, and the dice were the emblems of Fate and Lot.

[FN#215] i.e. a weaner, a name of good omen for a girl-child: see vol. vi. 145. The Hindi translator, Totárám Shayyán, calls her Hamídah = the Praiseworthy.

[FN#216] Arab. Kirámát: see vols. ii. 237; iv. 45. The Necromancer clearly smells a rat holding with Diderot:

De par le Roi! Defense á Dieu
De faire miracle en ce lieu;

and the stage properties afterwards found with the holy woman, such as the gallipot of colouring ointment, justify his suspicion.

[FN#217] " 'Ajáib" plur. of " 'Ajíb," a common exclamation amongst the populace. It is used in Persian as well as in Arabic.

[FN#218] Evidently la force de l'imagination, of which a curious illustration was given in Paris during the debauched days of the Second Empire. Before a highly "fashionable" assembly of men appeared a youth in fleshings who sat down upon a stool, bared his pudenda and closed his eyes when, by "force of fancy," erection and emission took place. But presently it was suspected and proved that the stool was hollow and admitted from below a hand whose titillating fingers explained the phenomenon.

[FN#219] a Moslems are curious about sleeping postures and the popular saying is:--Lying upon the right side is proper to Kings; upon the left to Sages, to sleep supine is the position of Allah's Saints and prone upon the belly is peculiar to the Devils.

[FN#220] This " 'Asá," a staff five to six feet long, is one of the properties of Moslem Saints and reverends who, imitating that furious old Puritan, Caliph Omar, make and are allowed to make a pretty liberal distribution of its caresses.

[FN#221] i.e. as she was in her own home.

[FN#222] Arab. "Sulúk" a Sufistical expression, the road to salvation, &c.

[FN#223] In the H. V. her diet consisted of dry bread and fruits.

[FN#224] This is the first mention of the windows in the Arabic MS.

[FN#225] For this "Roc" of the older writers see vols. v. 122; vi. 16-49. I may remind the reader that the O. Egyptian "Rokh," or "Rukh," by some written "Rekhit," whose ideograph is a monstrous bird with one claw raised, also denotes pure wise Spirits, the Magi, &c. I know a man who derives from it our "rook" = beak and parson.

[FN#226] In the H. V he takes the Lamp from his bosom, where he had ever kept it since his misadventure with the African Magician

[FN#227] Here the mythical Rukh is mixed up with the mysterious bird Símurgh, for which see vol. x. 117.

[FN#228] The H. V. adds, "hoping thereby that thou and she and all the household should fall into perdition."

[FN#229] Rank mesmerism, which has been practiced in the East from ages immemorial. In Christendom Santa Guglielma worshipped at Brunate, "works many miracles, chiefly healing aches of head." In the H. V. Alaeddin feigns that he is ill and fares to the Princess with his head tied up.

[FN#230] Mr. Morier in "The Mirza" (vol. i. 87) says, "Had the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, with all their singular fertility of invention and never-ending variety, appeared as a new book in the present day, translated literally and not adapted to European taste in the manner attempted in M. Galland's translation, I doubt whether they would have been tolerated, certainly not read with the avidity they are, even in the dress with which he has clothed them, however imperfect that dress maybe." But in Morier's day the literal translation was so despised that an Eastern book was robbed of half its charms, both of style and idea.

[FN#231] In the MS. Of the Bibliothèque National, Supplement Arabe (No. 2523, vol. ii. fol. 147), the story which follows "Aladdin" is that of the Ten Wazirs, for which see Supp. Nights ii. In Galland the Histoire de Codadad et des ses Frères comes next to the tale of Zayn al-Asnam: I have changed the sequence in order that the two stories directly translated from the Arabic may be together.

[FN#232] M. Hermann Zotenberg lately informed me that "Khudadad and his Brothers" is to be found in a Turkish MS., "Al-Faraj ba'd al-Shiddah"--Joy after Annoy--in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris. But that work is a mere derivation from the Persian "Hazár o yek Roz" for which see my vol. x. p.441. The name Khudadad is common to most Eastern peoples, the Sansk. Devadatta, the Gr. {Greek} and Dorotheus; the Lat. Deodatus, the Ital. Diodato, and Span. Diosdado, the French Dieu-donn⁄, and the Arab.-Persic Alladád, Dívdád and Khudábaksh. Khudá is the mod. Pers. form of the old Khudáí=sovereign, king, as in Máh-i-Khudáí=the sovereign moon, Kám-Khudáí=master of his passions, etc.

[FN#233] Lit. Homes (or habitations) of Bakr (see vol. v. 66), by the Turks pronounced "Diyár-i-Bekír." It is the most famous of the four provinces into which Mesopotamia (Heb. Naharaym, Arab. Al-Jazírah) is divided by the Arabs; viz: Diyár Bakr (capital Amídah); Diyár Modhar (cap. Rakkah or Aracta); Diyár Rabí'ah (cap. Nisibis) and Diyár al-Jazírah or Al-Jazírah (cap. Mosul). As regards the "King of Harrán," all these ancient cities were at some time the capitals of independent chiefs who styled themselves royalties.

[FN#234] The Heb. Charran, the Carrh of the classics where, according to the Moslems, Abraham was born, while the Jews and Christians make him emigrate thither from "Ur (hod. Mughayr) of the Chaldees." Hence his Arab. title "Ibrahim al-Harráni." My late friend Dr. Beke had a marvellous theory that this venerable historic Harrán was identical with a miserable village to the east of Damascus because the Fellahs call it Harrán al-'Awámíd--of the Columns--from some Gr co-Roman remnants of a paltry provincial temple. See "Jacob's Flight," etc., London, Longmans, 1865.

[FN#235] Pírozah=turquoise, is the Persian, Firúzah and Firuzakh (De Sacy, Chrest. ii. 84) the Arab. forms. The stone is a favourite in the East where, as amongst the Russians (who affect to despise the Eastern origin of their blood to which they owe so much of its peculiar merit), it is supposed to act talisman against wounds and death in battle; and the Persians, who hold it to be a guard against the Evil Eye, are fond of inscribing "turquoise of the old rock" with one or more of the "Holy Names." Of these talismans a modern Spiritualist asks, "Are rings and charms and amulets magnetic, to use an analogue for what we cannot understand, and has the immemorial belief in the power of relics a natural not to say a scientific basis?"

[FN#236] Samaria is a well-known name amongst Moslems, who call the city Shamrín and Shamrún. It was built, according to Ibn Batrik, upon Mount Samir by Amri who gave it the first name; and the Taríkh Samírí, by Aba al-Fath Abú al-Hasan, is a detailed account of its garbled annals. As Nablús (Neapolis of Herod., also called by him Sebaste) it is now familiar to the Cookite.

[FN#237] In the text Zangi-i-Adam-kh'wár afterwards called Habashi=an Abyssinian. Galland simply says un negre. In India the "Habshí" (chief) of Jinjirah (=Al-Jazirah, the Island) was admiral of the Grand Moghul's fleets. These negroids are still dreaded by Hindús and Hindís and, when we have another "Sepoy Mutiny," a few thousands of them bought upon the Zanzibar coast, dressed, drilled and officered by Englishmen, will do us yeomans' service.

[FN#238] This seems to be a fancy name for a country: the term is Persian=the Oceanland or a seaport town: from "Daryá" the sea and bár=a region, tract, as in Zanzibár=Black-land. The learned Weil explains it (in loco) by Gegend der Brunnen, brunnengleicher ort, but I cannot accept Scott's note (iv. 400), "Signifying the seacoast of every country; and hence the term is applied by Oriental geographers to the coast of Malabar."

[FN#239] The onager, confounded by our older travellers with the zebra, is the Gúr-i-khár of Persia, where it is the noblest game from which kings did not disdain to take a cognomen, e.g., Bahrám-i-Gúr. It is the "wild ass" of Jeremiah (ii. 24: xiv. 6). The meat is famous in poetry for combining the flavours peculiar to all kinds of flesh (Ibn Khallikan iii. 117; iii. 239, etc.) and is noticed by Herodotus (Clio. cxxxiii.) and by Xenophon (Cyro. lib. 1) in sundry passages: the latter describes the relays of horses and hounds which were used in chasing it then as now. The traveller Olearius (A. D. 1637) found it more common than in our present day: Shah Abbas turned thirty-two wild asses into an enclosure where they were shot as an item of entertainment to the ambassadors at his court. The skin of the wild ass's back produces the famous shagreen, a word seemingly derived from the Pers. "Saghrí," e.g. "Kyafash-i-Saghri"=slippers of shagreen, fine wear fit for a "young Duke". See in Ibn Khallikan (iv. 245) an account of a "Júr" (the Arabised "Gúr") eight hundred years old.

[FN#240] "Dasht-i-lá-siwá-Hú"=a desert wherein is none save He (Allah), a howling wilderness.

[FN#241] Per. "Náz o andáz"=coquetry, in a half-honest sense. The Persian "Káká Siyáh," i.e. "black brother" (a domestic negro) pronounces Nází-núzí.

[FN#242] In the text Nimak-harám: on this subject see vol. viii. 12.

[FN#243] i.e., an Arab of noble strain: see vol. iii. 72.

[FN#244] In the text "Kazzák"=Cossacks, bandits, mounted highwaymen; the word is well known in India, where it is written in two different ways, and the late Mr. John Shakespear in his excellent Dictionary need hardly have marked the origin "U" (unknown).

[FN#245] Here and below the Hindostani version mounts the lady upon a camel ("Ushtur" or "Unth") which is not customary in India except when criminals are led about the bazar. An elephant would have been in better form.

[FN#246] The Ashrafí (Port. Xerafim) is a gold coin whose value has greatly varied with its date from four shillings upwards. In The (true) Nights we find (passim) that, according to the minting of the VIth Ommiade, 'Abd al-Malik bin Marwán (A.H. 65-86=A.D. 685-703), the coinage of Baghdad consisted of three metals. "Ita quoque peregrina suis nummis nomina posuit, aureum Dinar denarium, argentem Dirhen (lege dirham), Drachma, reum fols (fuls), follem appellans. * * * Nam Vera moneta aurea nomine follis lignabatur, ut reorum sub Aarone Raschido cussorum qui hoc nomen servavit." (O. G. Tychsen p. 8. Introduct. in Rem numariam Muhammedanorum.) For the dinar, daric or miskál see The Nights, vol i. 32; ix. 294; for the dirham, i. 33, ii. 316, etc.; and for the Fals or Fils=a fish scale, a spangle of metal, vol. i. 321. In the debased currency of the Maroccan Empire the Fals of copper or iron, a substantial coin, is worth 2,160 to the French five-franc piece.

[FN#247] In the Hindi, as in Galland's version, the horse is naturally enough of Turcoman blood. I cannot but think that in India we have unwisely limited ourselves for cavalry remounts to the Western market that exports chiefly the mongrel "Gulf Arab" and have neglected the far hardier animal, especially the Gútdán blood of the Tartar plains, which supply "excellent horses whose speed and bottom are" say travellers in general, "so justly celebrated throughout Asia." Our predecessors were too wise to "put all the eggs in one basket."

[FN#248] An act of worship, see my Pilgrimage in which "Tawáf"=circuiting, is described in detail, ii. 38; iii. 2O1 et seqq. A counterpart of this scene is found in the Histoire du Sultan Aqchid (Ikhshid) who determined to witness his own funeral. Gauttier vol. i. pp. 134-139. Another and similar incident occurs in the "Nineteenth Vezir's Story" (pp. 213-18 of the History of the Forty Vezirs, before alluded to): here Hasan of Basrah, an 'Alim who died in A.H. 110 (=A.D. 728) saw in vision (the "drivel of dreams?") folk of all conditions, sages, warriors and moon-faced maids seeking, but in vain, to release the sweet soul of the Prince who had perished.

[FN#249] Here, after Moslem fashion, the mother ranks before the wife: "A man can have many wives but only one mother." The idea is old amongst Easterns: see Herodotus and his Christian commentators on the history of Intaphernes' wife (Thalia, cap. cxix). "O King," said that lady of mind logical, "I may get me another mate if God will and other children an I lose these; but as my father and my mother are no longer alive, I may not by any means have another brother," etc., etc.

[FN#250] In Galland the Histoire de Ganem, fils d'Abu A¥oub, surnomm⁄ l'esclave d'Amour, precedes Zayn al-Asnám. In the Arab texts Ghanim bin Ayyúb, the Thrall o' Love, occurs much earlier: see The Nights vol. ii. 45.

It is curious to compare the conclusions of these tales with the formula of the latest specimens, the Contes Arabes Modernes of Spitta-Bey, e.g. "And the twain lived together (p. iii.) and had sons and daughters (p. ii.), cohabiting with perfect harmony (fí al-Kamál pp.42, 79); and at last they died and were buried and so endeth the story" (wa khalás p.161).

[FN#251] In Galland and his translators the Adventures of Khudadad and his Brothers is followed by the Histoire du Dormeur Eveill⁄ which, as "The Sleeper and the Waker," is to be found in the first of my Supplemental Volumes, pp. 1-29. After this the learned Frenchman introduced, as has been said, the Histoire de la Lampe merveilleuse or "Alaeddin" to which I have assigned, for reasons given in loco, a place before Khudadad.

[FN#252] i.e. Daddy Abdullah, the former is used in Pers., Turk. and Hindostani for dad! dear! child! and for the latter, see vol. v. 141.

[FN#253] Here the Arab. syn. of the Pers. "Darwaysh," which Egyptians pronounce "Darwísh." In the Nile-valley the once revered title has been debased to an insult = "poor devil" (see Pigrimage i., pp. 20-22); "Fakír" also has come to signify a Koran-chaunter.

[FN#254] To "Nakh" is to make the camel kneel. See vo!. ii. 139, and its references.

[FN#255] As a sign that he parted willingly with all his possessions.

[FN#256] Arab. "'Ubb" prop.=the bulge between the breast and the outer robe which is girdled round the waist to make a pouch. See vol. viii. 205.

[FN#257] Thirst very justly takes precedence of hunger: a man may fast for forty days, but with out water in a tropical country he would die within a week. For a description of the horrors of thirst see my "First Footsteps in East Africa," pp. 387-8.

[FN#258] In Galland it is Sidi Nouman; in many English translations, as in the "Lucknow" (Newul Kishore Press, 1880), it has become "Sidi Nonman." The word has occurred in King Omar bin al-Nu'uman, vol. ii. 77 and 325, and vol. v. 74. For Sídí = my lord, see vol. v. 283; Byron, in The Corsair, ii. 2, seems to mistake it for "Sayyid."

High in his hall reclines the turban'd Seyd,
Around--the bearded chiefs he came to lead.

[FN#259] The Turco-English form of the Persian "Puláo."

[FN#260] i.e. the secure (fem.). It was the name of the famous concubine of Solomon to whom he entrusted his ring (vol. vi. 84), also of the mother of Mohammed who having taken her son to Al-Medinah (Yathrib) died on the return journey. I cannot understand why the Apostle of Al-Islam, according to his biographers and commentators, refused to pray for his parent's soul, she having been born in Al-Fitrah (the interval between the fall of Christianity and the birth of Al-Islam), when he had not begun to preach his "dispensation."

[FN#261] The cane-play: see vol. vi. 263.

[FN#262] Galland has une Goule, i.e., a Ghúlah, a she-Ghúl, an ogress. But the lady was supping with a male of that species, for which see vols. i. 55; vi. 36.

[FN#263] In the text "Wazífah" prop. = a task, a stipend, a salary, but here = the "Farz" devotions which he considered to be his duty. In Spitta-Bey (loc. cit. p. 218) it is = duty,

[FN#264] For this scene which is one of every day in the East; see Pilgrimage ii. pp. 52-54.

[FN#265] This hate of the friend of man is inherited from Jewish ancestors; and, wherever the Hebrew element prevails, the muzzle, which has lately made its appearance in London, is strictly enforced, as at Trieste. Amongst the many boons which civilisation has conferred upon Cairo I may note hydrophobia; formerly unknown in Egypt the dreadful disease has lately caused more than one death. In India sporadic cases have at rare times occurred in my own knowledge since 1845.

[FN#266] In Galland "Rougeau" = (for Rougeaud?) a red-faced (man), etc., and in the English version "Chance": "Bakht" = luck, good fortune.

[FN#267] In the text "Sarráf" = a money-changer. See vols. i. 210; iv. 270.

[FN#268] Galland has forgotten this necessary detail: see vol. i. 30 and elsewhere. In Lane's story of the man metamorphosed to an ass, the old woman, "quickly covering her face, declared the fact."

[FN#269] In the normal forms of this story, which Galland has told very badly, the maiden would have married the man she saved.

[FN#270] In other similar tales the injured one inflicts such penalty by the express command of his preserver who takes strong measures to ensure obedience.

[FN#271] In the more finished tales of the true "Nights" the mare would have been restored to human shape after giving the best security for good conduct in time to come.

[FN#272] i.e. Master Hasan the Rope-maker. Galland writes, after European fashion, "Hassan," for which see vol. i. 251; and for "Khwájah" vol. vi. 146. "Al-Habbál" was the cognomen of a learned "Háfiz" (= traditionist and Koran reader), Abú Ishák Ibrahim, in Ibn Khall. ii. 262; for another see iv. 410.

[FN#273] "Sa'd" = prosperity and "Sa'dí' '= prosperous, the surname of the "Persian moralist," for whom see my friend F. F. Arbuthnot's pleasant booklet, "Persian Portraits" (London Quaritch, 1887).

[FN#274] This is true to nature as may be seen any day at Bombay The crows are equally audacious, and are dangerous to men Iying wounded in solitary places.

[FN#275] The Pers. "Gil-i-sar-shúí" (=head-washing clay), the Sindi "Met," and the Arab "Tafl," a kind of clay much used in Persian, Afghanistan, Sind, etc. Galland turns it into terre à decrasser and his English translators into "scouring sand which women use in baths." This argillaceous earth mixed with mustard oil is locally used for clay and when rose-leaves and perfumes are used, it makes a tolerable wash-ball. See "Scinde or The Unhappy Valley," i. 31.

[FN#276] For the "Cowrie" (Cypr£a moneta) see vol. iv. 77. The Bádám or Bídám (almond) used by way of small change in India, I have noted elsewhere.

[FN#277] Galland has "un morceau de plomb," which in the Hindí text becomes "Shíshahkápaysá" = a (pice) small coin of glass: the translator also terms it a "Faddah," for which see Nusf (alias "Nuss"), vols. ii. 37, vi. 214 and ix. 139, 167. Glass tokens, by way of coins, were until late years made at Hebron, in Southern Syria.

[FN#278] For the "Ták" or "Tákah" = the little wall-niche, see vol. vii. 361.

[FN#279] In the French and English versions the coin is a bit of lead for weighting the net. For the "Paysá" (pice) = two farthings, and in weight = half an ounce, see Herklot's Glossary, p. xcviii.

[FN#280] In the text "bilisht" = the long span between thumb-tip and minimus-tip. Galland says long plus d'une coud⁄e et gros à proportion.

[FN#281] For the diamond (Arab. "Almás" from {Greek}, and in Hind. "Híra" and "Panná") see vols. vi. 15, i. ix. 325, and in latter correct, "Euritic," a misprint for "dioritic." I still cannot believe diamond-cutting to be an Indian art, and I must hold that it was known to the ancients. It could not have been an unpolished stone, that "Adamas notissimus" which according to Juvenal (vi. 156) Agrippa gave to his sister. Maundeville (A.D. 1322) has a long account of the mineral, "so hard that no man can polish it," and called Hamese ("Almás?"). For Mr. Petrie and his theory, see vol. ix. 325. In most places where the diamond has been discovered of late years it had been used as a magic stone, e.g., by the Pag⁄s or medicine-men of the Brazil, or for children's playthings, which was the case with the South-African "Caffres."

[FN#282] These stones, especially the carbuncle, which give out dight in darkness are a commonplace of Eastern folk-lore. For luminous jewels in folk-lore, see Mr. Clouston (i. 412): the belief is not wholly extinct in England, and I have often heard of it in the Brazil and upon the African Gaboon. It appears to me that there may be a basis of fact to tints fancy, the abnormal effect of precious stones upon mesmeric "sensitives."

[FN#283] The chimney and chimney-piece of Galland are not Eastern: the H. V. uses "Bukhárí" = a place for steaming.

[FN#284] i.e. "Rachel."

[FN#285] In the text "lakh," the Anglicised "lac" = 100,000.

[FN#286] This use of camphor is noted by Gibbon (D. and F. iii. 195).

[FN#287] " b o hawá" = climate: see vol. ii. 4.

[FN#288] Galland makes this article a linen cloth wrapped about the skull-cap or core of the turban.

[FN#289] Mr. Coote ( loc. cit. p. 185) is unable to produce a puramythe containing all of "Ali Bába;" but, for the two leading incidents he quotes from Prof. Sakellarios two tales collected in Cyprus One is Morgiana marking the village doors (p. 187), which has occurred doubtless a hundred times. The other, in the "Story of Drakos," is an ogre, hight "Three Eyes," who attempts the rescue of his wife with a party of blackamoors packed in bales and these are all discovered and slain.

[FN#290] Dans la forêt, says Galland.

[FN#291] Or "Samsam," The grain = Sesamum Orientale: hence the French, Sesame, ouvre-toi! The term is cabalistical, like Súlem, Súlam or Shúlam in the Directorium Vit Human of Johannes di Capuâ: Inquit vir: Ibam in nocte plenilunii et ascendebam super domum ubi furari intendebam, et accedens ad fenestram ubi radii lune ingrediebantur, et dicebam hanc coniurationem, scilicet sulem sulem, septies, deinde amplectebar lumen lune et sine lesione descendebam ad domum, etc. (pp. 24-25) par Joseph Derenbourg, Membre de l'Institut 1re Fascicule, Paris, F. Vieweg, 67, Rue de Richelieu, 1887.

[FN#292] In the text "Jatháni" = the wife of an elder brother. Hindostani, like other Eastern languages, is rich in terms for kinship whereof English is so exceptionally poor. Mr. Francis Galtson, in his well-known work, "Hereditary Genius," a misnomer by the by for "HeredTalent," felt this want severely and was at pains to supply it.

[FN#293]In the text "Thag," our English "Thug," often pronounced moreover by the Briton with the sibilant "th." It means simply a cheat: you say to your servant "Tú bará Thag hai" = thou art a precious rascal; but it has also the secondary meaning of robber, assassin, and the tertiary of Bhawáni-worshippers who offer indiscriminate human sacrifices to the DeŸss of Destruction. The word and the thing have been made popular in England through the "Confessions of a Thug" by my late friend Meadows Taylor; and I may record my conviction that were the English driven out of India, "Thuggee," like piracy in Cutch and in the Persian Gulf, would revive at the shortest possible time.

[FN#294] i.e. the Civil Governor, who would want nothing better.

[FN#295]This is in Galland and it is followed by the H. V.; but it would be more natural to suppose that of the quarters two were hung up outside the door and the others within. VOL. XIII

[FN#296] I am unwilling to alter the time honoured corruption: properly it is written Marjánah = the "Coralline," from Marján = red coral, for which see vols. ii. 100; vii. 373.

[FN#297] i.e. the " 'Iddah." during which she could not marry. See vol. iii. 292.

[FN#298] In Galland he is a savetier * * * naturellement gai, et qui avait toujours le mot pour rire: the H. V. naturally changed him to a tailor as the Chámár or leather-worker would be inadmissible to polite conversation.

[FN#299] i.e. a leader of prayer; the Pers. "Písh-namáz" = fore-prayer, see vols. ii. 203; iv. 111 and 227. Galland has "ímán," which can mean only faith, belief, and in this blunder he is conscientiously followed by his translators--servum pecus

[FN#300] Galland nails down the corpse in the bier--a Christian practice--and he certainly knew better. Moreover, prayers for the dead are mostly recited over the bier when placed upon the brink of the grave; nor is it usual for a woman to play so prominent a part in the ceremony.

[FN#301] See vols. v. 111; ix. 163 and x. 47.

[FN#302] Galland is less merciful, "Aussit∂t le conducteur fut d⁄clar⁄ digne de mort tout d'une voix, et il s'y condamna lui-même," etc. The criminal, indeed, condemns himself and firmly offers his neck to be stricken.

[FN#303] In the text "Lauh," for which see vol. v. 73.

[FN#304] In Arab. "Kama" = he rose, which, in vulgar speech especially in Egypt, = he began. So in Spitta-Bey's "Contes Arabes Modernes" (p. 124) "Kámat al-Sibhah dhákat fi yad akhí-h" = the chaplet began (lit. arose) to wax tight in his brother's hand. This sense is shadowed forth in classical Arabic.

[FN#305] So in old Arabian history "Kasír" (the Little One), the Arab Zopyrus, stows away in huge camel-bags the 2,000 warriors intended to surprise masterful Queen Zebba. Chronique de Tabarí, vol. ii., 26. Also the armed men in boxes by which Shamar, King of Al-Yaman, took Shamar-kand = Shamar's-town, now Samarkand. (Ibid. ii. 158.)

[FN#306] i.e. for a walk, a "constitutional": the phrase is very common in Egypt, and has occurred before.

[FN#307] These visions are frequent in Al-Islam; see Pilgrimage iii. 254-55. Of course Christians are not subject to them, as Moslems also are never favoured with glimpses of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints; the best proof of their "Subjectivity."

[FN#308] For this word see De Sacy, Chrest. ii. 421. It has already occurred in The Nights, vol. iii. 295.

[FN#309] Not a few pilgrims settle for a time or for life in the two Holy Places, which are thus kept supplied with fresh blood. See Pilgrimage ii. 260.

[FN#310] i.e. Bayt al-Mukaddas, for which see vol. ii. 132.

[FN#311] An affidavit amongst Moslems is "litis decisio," as in the jurisprudence of medi val Europe.

[FN#312] In Arab folk-lore there are many instances of such precocious boys--enfants terribles they must be in real life. In Ibn Khall. (iii. 104) we find notices of a book "Kitáb Nujabá al-Abná" = Treatise on Distinguished Children, by Ibn Zakar al- Sakalli (the Sicilian), ob. A. D. 1169-70. And the boy-Kazi is a favourite role in the plays of peasant-lads who enjoy the irreverent "chaff" almost as much as when "making a Pasha." This reminds us of the boys electing Cyrus as their King in sport (Herodotus, i. 114). For the cycle of "Precocious Children" and their adventures, see Mr. Clouston (Popular Tales, etc., ii. 1- 14), who enters into the pedigree and affiliation. I must, however, differ with that able writer when he remarks at the end, "And now we may regard the story of Valerius Maximus with suspicion, and that of Lloyd as absolutely untrue, so far as William Noy's alleged share in the 'case.' " The jest or the event happening again and again is no valid proof of its untruth; and it is often harder to believe in derivation than in spontaneous growth.

[FN#313] In Galland Ali Cogia, Marchand de Bagdad, is directly followed by the Histoire du Cheval Enchant⁄. For this "Ebony Horse," as I have called it, see vol. v. p. 32.

[FN#314] "Bánú" = a lady, a dame of high degree generally, e.g. the (Shah's) Banu-i-Harem in James Morier ("The Mirza," iii. 50), who rightly renders Pari Banu = Pari of the first quality. "Peri" (Parí) in its modern form has a superficial resemblance to "Fairy;" but this disappears in the "Pairika" of the Avesta and the "Pairik" of the modern Parsee. In one language only, the Multání, there is a masculine form for the word "Pará" = a he-fairy (Scinde, ii. 203). In Al-Islam these Peris are beautiful feminine spirits who, created after the "Dívs" (Tabari, i. 7), mostly believe in Allah and the Koran and desire the good of mankind: they are often attacked by the said Dívs, giants or demons, who imprison them in cages hung to the highest trees, and here the captives are visited by their friends who feed them with the sweetest of scents. I have already contrasted them with the green-coated pygmies to which the grotesque fancy of Northern Europe has reduced them. Bánú in Pers. = a princess, a lady, and is still much used, e.g. Bánú-í-Harim, the Dame of the Serraglio, whom foreigners call "Queen of Persia," and rám-Banu="the calm Princess," a nickname. A Greek story equivalent of Prince Ahmad is told by Pio in Contes Populaires Grecs (No. ii. p. 98) and called {Greek}, the Golden box. Three youths ({Greek}) love the same girl and agree that whoever shall learn the best craft ({Greek}) shall marry her; one becomes an astrologer, the second can raise the dead, and the third can run faster than air. They find her at death's door, and her soul, which was at her teeth ready to start, goes down ({Greek}).

[FN#315] Light of the Day.

[FN#316] Galland has "Bisnagar," which the H. V. corrupts to Bishan-Garh = Vishnu's Fort, an utter misnomer. Bisnagar, like Bijnagar, Beejanuggur, Vizianuggur, etc., is a Prakrit corruption of the Sanskrit Vijáyanagara = City of Victory, the far-famed Hindu city and capital of the Narasingha or Lord of Southern India, mentioned in The Nights, vols. vi. 18; ix. 84. Nicolo de' Conti in the xvth century found it a magnificent seat of Empire some fifteen marches south of the pestilential mountains which contained the diamond mines. Accounts of its renown and condition in the last generation have been given by James Grant ("Remarks on the Dekkan") and by Captain Moore ("Operations of Little's Detachment against Tippoo Sultan"). The latest description of it is in "The Indian Empire," by Sir William W. Hunter. Vijáyanagar, village in Bellary district, Madras, lat. 15 degrees 18' N., long. 76 degrees 30' E., pop. (1871), 437, inhabiting 172 houses. The proper name of this village is Hampi, but Vijáyanagar was the name of the dynasty (?) and of the kingdom which had its capital here and was the last great Hindu power of the South. Founded by two adventurers in the middle of the xivth century, it lasted for two centuries till its star went down at Tálikot in A. D. 1565. For a description of the ruins of the old city of Vijáyanagar, which covers a total area of nine square miles, see "Murray's Handbook for Madras," by E. B. Eastwick (1879), vol. ix. p. 235. Authentic history in Southern India begins with the Hindu kingdom of Vijáyanagar, or Narsinha, from A. D. 1118 to 1565. The capital can still be traced within the Madras district of Bellary, on the right bank of the Tungabhadra river--vast ruins of temples, fortifications, tanks and bridges, haunted by hy nas and snakes. For at least three centuries Vijáyanagar ruled over the southern part of the Indian triangle. Its Rajas waged war and made peace on equal terms with the Mohamadan sultans of the Deccan. See vol. iv. p. 335, Sir W. W. Hunter's "Imperial Gazetteer of India," Edit. 1881.

[FN#317] The writer means the great Bazar, the Indian "Chauk," which = our English Carfax or Carfex (Carrefour) and forms the core of ancient cities in the East. It is in some places, as Damascus, large as one of the quarters, and the narrow streets or lanes, vaulted over or thatched, are all closed at night by heavy doors well guarded by men and dogs. Trades are still localised, each owning its own street, after the fashion of older England, where we read of Drapers' Lane and Butchers' Row; Lombard Street, Cheapside and Old Jewry.

[FN#318] The local name of the Patna ganzes. The term was originally applied to the produce of the Coan looms, which, however, was anticipated in ancient Egypt. See p. 287 of "L'Arch⁄ologie gyptienne" (Paris, A. Quantin) of the learned Professor G. Maspero, a most able popular work by a savant who has left many regrets on the banks of Nilus.