The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01...

524. "La adamnák"=Heaven deprive us not of thee, i.e. grant I see thee often!

525. This is a somewhat cavalier style of advance; but Easterns under such circumstances go straight to the point, hating to filer the parfait amour.

526. The peremptory formula of a slave delivering such a message.

527. This would be our Thursday night, preceding the day of public prayers which can be performed only when in a state of ceremonial purity. Hence many Moslems go to the Hammam on Thursday and have no connection with their wives till Friday night.

528. Lane (i. 423) gives ample details concerning the Habbániyah, or grain-sellers' quarter in the southern part of Cairo; and shows that when this tale was written (or transcribed?) the city was almost as extensive as it is now.

529. Nakíb is a caravan-leader, a chief, a syndic; and "Abú Shámah"=Father of a cheek mole, while "Abú Shámmah"=Father of a smeller, a nose, a snout. The "Kuniyah," bye-name, patronymic or matronymic, is necessary amongst Moslems whose list of names, all connected more or less with religion, is so scanty. Hence Buckingham the traveller was known as Abu Kidr, the Father of a Cooking-pot and Hajj Abdullah as Abu Shawárib, Father of Mustachios (Pilgrimage, iii., 263).

530. More correctly Bab Zawilah from the name of a tribe in Northern Africa. This gate dates from the same age as the Eastern or Desert gate, Bab al-Nasr (A.D. 1087) and is still much admired. M. Jomard describes it (Description, etc., ii. 670) and lately my good friend Yacoub Artin Pasha has drawn attention to it in the Bulletin de l'Inst. Egypt., Deuxième Série, No. 4, 1883.

531. This ornament is still seen in the older saloons of Damascus: the inscriptions are usually religious sentences, extracts from the Koran, etc., in uncial characters. They take the place of our frescos; and, as a work of art, are generally far superior.

532. Arab. "Bayáz al-Sultání," the best kind of gypsum which shines like polished marble. The stucco on the walls of Alexandria, built by Alexander of the two Horns, was so exquisitely tempered and beautifully polished that men had to wear masks for fear of blindness.

533. This Iklíl, a complicated affair, is now obsolete, its place having been taken by the "Kurs," a gold plate, some five inches in diameter, set with jewels, etc. Lane (M. E. Appendix A) figures it.

534. The woman-artist who applies the dye is called "Munakkishah."

535. "Kissing with th' inner lip," as Shakespeare calls it; the French langue fourrée; and Sankrit "Samputa." The subject of kissing is extensive in the East. Ten different varieties are duly enumerated in the "Ananga-Ranga;" or, The Hindu Art of Love (Ars Amoris Indica) translated from the Sanscrit, and annotated by A. F. F. and B. F. R. It is also connected with unguiculation, or impressing the nails, of which there are seven kinds; morsication (seven kinds); handling the hair and tappings or pattings with the fingers and palm (eight kinds).

536. Arab. "asal-nahl," to distinguish it from "honey" i.e. syrup of sugar-cane and fruits.

537. The lines have occurred in Night xii. By way of variety I give Torrens' version p. 273.

538. The way of carrying money in the corner of a pocket-handkerchief is still common.

539. He sent the provisions not to be under an obligation to her in this matter. And she received them to judge thereby of his liberality.

540. Those who have seen the process of wine-making in the Libanus will readily understand why it is always strained.

541. Arab. "Kulkasá," a kind of arum or yam, eaten boiled like our potatoes.

542. At first he slipped the money into the bed-clothes: now he gives it openly and she accepts it for a reason.

543. Arab. Al-Zalamah: lit.=tyrants, oppressors, applied to the police and generally to the employés of Government. It is a word which tells a history.

544. Moslem law is never completely satisfied till the criminal confess. It also utterly ignores circumstantial evidence and for the best of reasons: amongst so sharp-witted a people the admission would lead to endless abuses. I greatly surprised a certain Governor-General of India by giving him this simple information.

545. Cutting off the right hand is the Koranic punishment (chapt. v.) for one who robs an article worth four dinars, about forty francs to shillings. The left foot is to be cut off at the ankle for a second offence and so on; but death is reserved for a hardened criminal. The practice is now obsolete and theft is punished by the bastinado, fine or imprisonment. The old Guebres were as severe. For stealing one dirham's worth they took a fine of two, cut off the ear-lobes, gave ten stick-blows and dismissed the criminal who had been subjected to an hour's imprisonment. A second theft caused the penalties to be doubled; and after that the right hand was cut off or death was inflicted according to the proportion stolen.

546. Koran viii. 17.

547. A universal custom in the East, the object being originally to show that the draught was not poisoned.

548. Out of paste or pudding.

549. Boils and pimples are supposed to be caused by broken hair-roots and in Hindostani are called Bál-tor.

550. He intended to bury it decently, a respect which Moslems always show even to the exuviæ of the body, as hair and nail parings. Amongst Guebres the latter were collected and carried to some mountain. The practice was intensified by fear of demons or wizards getting possession of the spoils.

551. Without which the marriage was not valid. The minimum is ten dirhams (drachmas) now valued at about five francs to shillings; and if a man marry without naming the sum, the woman, after consummation, can compel him to pay this minimum.

552. Arab. "Khatmah"=reading or reciting the whole Koran, by one or more persons, usually in the house, not over the tomb. Like the "Zikr," Litany or Rogation, it is a pious act confined to certain occasions.

553. Arab. "Zírbájah"=meat dressed with vinegar, cumin-seed (Pers. Zír) and hot spices. More of it in the sequel of the tale.

554. A saying not uncommon meaning, let each man do as he seems fit; also="age quod agis": and at times corresponding with our saw about the cap-fitting.

555. Arab. "Su'úd," an Alpinia with pungent rhizome like ginger; here used as a counter-odour.

556. Arab. "Tá'ih"=lost in the "Tíh," a desert wherein man may lose himself, translated in our maps "The Desert of the Wanderings," scil. of the children of Israel. "Credat Judæus."

557. i.e., £125 and £500.

558. A large sum was weighed by a professional instead of being counted, the reason being that the coin is mostly old and worn: hence our words "pound" and "pension" (or what is weighed out).

559. The eunuch is the best possible go-between on account of his almost unlimited power over the Harem.

560. i.e. a slave-girl brought up in the house and never sold except for some especial reason, as habitual drunkenness, etc.

561. Smuggling men into the Harem is a stock "topic" of eastern tales. "By means of their female attendants, the ladies of the royal harem generally get men into their apartments in the disguise of women." Says Vatsyayana in The Kama Sutra, Part V., London: Printed for the Hindoo Kamashastra Society, 1883. For private circulation only.

562. These tears are shed over past separation. So the "Indians" of the New World never meet after long parting without beweeping mutual friends they have lost.

563. A most important Jack in office whom one can see with his smooth chin and blubber lips, starting up from his lazy snooze in the shade and delivering his orders more peremptorily than any Dogberry. These epicenes are as curious and exceptional in character as in external conformation. Disconnected, after a fashion, with humanity, they are brave, fierce and capable of any villany or barbarity (as Agha Mohammed Khan in Persia 1795-98). The frame is unnaturally long and lean, especially the arms and legs; with high, flat, thin shoulders; big protruding joints and a face by contrast extraordinarily large, a veritable mask; the Castrato is expert in the use of weapons and sits his horse admirably, riding well "home" in the saddle for the best of reasons; and his hoarse thick voice, which apparently does not break, as in the European "Cáppone," invests him with all the circumstance of command.