Chapter ii

.--"The women of Egypt have the character of being the most licentious in their feelings of all females who lay any claim to be considered as members of a civilized nation; and this character is freely bestowed upon them by their _countrymen_, even in conversation with foreigners."[337]--In the work from which the above passage is quoted, I have expatiated upon this subject more than I need do in the present case.

NOTE 55. The Arabs are generally of opinion that the innate dispositions of a child are inherited more from the mother than from the father. They believe that a daughter commonly resembles, in good or evil qualities, her mother; and a son, his maternal uncle. Hence they often address a man, "Yá ṭeiyib el-khál!"--"O thou who hast a good maternal uncle!"

NOTE 56. 'Abd-Allah Ibn-'Abbás was one of the most learned of the companions of his cousin Moḥammad, and one of the most celebrated of the relaters of his sayings and actions. He has received the titles of "Interpreter of the Ḳur-án" and "Sulṭán of Commentators." He died in the year of the Flight 68. His father, 'Abbás, the son of 'Abd-El-Muṭṭalib, was paternal uncle of Moḥammad, and ancestor of the 'Abbásee Khaleefehs.

NOTE 57.--_On the Astrolabe._ The astrolabe is more commonly used by the Arabs than any other instrument for astronomical observations. It is generally between four and six inches in diameter. It consists of a circular plate with a graduated rim, within which fit several thinner plates, and of a limb, moving on a pivot in the centre, with two sights. The plates are engraved with complicated diagrams, &c., for various calculations. The instrument is held by a ring, or by a loop of cord attached to the ring, during an observation; and thus its own weight answers the same purpose as the plumb-line of the quadrant (which the Arabs sometimes use in its stead); the position of the moveable limb with the sights marking the required altitude.

NOTE 58. Ṣafar is the second mouth of the Mohammadan year.

NOTE 59. As different copies vary here as to the date, I have taken the liberty of putting 263 instead of 763 or 653, in order to avoid a glaring anachronism. It is probable, however, that the last of these is the author's date, as it is found both in the old translation, and in the Breslau edition. The date in the Cairo edition is 763.

NOTE 60. A degree is four minutes; it would have been more proper, therefore, to have said, eight degrees and two minutes, than seven degrees and six minutes.

NOTE 61. "Eṣ-Ṣámit" signifies "the Silent."

NOTE 62. This and the two following names, or rather, surnames, convey the same meaning. Baḳbooḳ, Heddár, and Baḳbaḳ (here, in my original, erroneously written Yaḳyaḳ), signify "Chatterer." "El-Kooz el-Aṣwánee" (not to be mistaken for "---- ---- Aswánee," with a _soft_ s) seems to imply that the person thus named was always like a mug, with open mouth, and insensible as flint to rebuke. The two remaining names are different in different copies: "Shaḳáliḳ" is perhaps put erroneously for some other word, as "Shiḳáḳ," "Discord."

NOTE 63. Ḳur-án, ch. iii. v. 128.

NOTE 64. The Arabs generally carry their young children in this manner, seated astride upon the shoulder.

NOTE 65. This expression is borrowed from the Ḳur-án, ch. xlviii. v. 10. The meaning is, "there is no power of man, but God's power is superior to it."

NOTE 66. The Prophet (Moḥammad) is always alluded to when this form of benediction is used and the name of the person to whom it is applied is not mentioned.

NOTE 67. "Nedd" is a perfume composed of ambergris, musk, and aloes wood; or simply ambergris.

NOTE 68. Two khuṭbehs are recited on the occasion of the congregational Friday-prayers. It is the first of these which is here alluded to. See the next note.

NOTE 69.--_On the Congregational Friday-prayers._ The Selám (or Salutation) of Friday is a form of blessing on the Prophet and his family and companions, which is chanted by the muëddins from the mád'nehs (or towers) of the congregational mosques half an hour before noon. The worshippers begin to assemble in the mosque as soon as they hear it, and, ranging themselves in rows parallel to, and facing, that side in which is the niche, that marks the direction of Mekkeh, each performs, by himself, the prayers of two rek'ahs, which are supererogatory, and then sits in his place while a reader recites part or the whole of the 18th chapter of the Ḳur-án. At the call of noon, they all stand up, and each again performs, separately, the prayers of two rek'ahs, ordained by the Prophet. A minister, standing at the foot of the pulpit-stairs, then proposes to bless the Prophet: and accordingly, a second Selám is chanted by one or more other ministers stationed on an elevated platform. After this, the former minister, and the latter after him, repeat the call of noon (which the muëddins have before chanted from the mád'nehs); and the former enjoins silence. The chief minister (Khaṭeeb, or Imám,) has already seated himself on the top step or platform of the pulpit. He now rises, and recites a khuṭbeh of praise to God and exhortation to the congregation; and if in a country or town acquired by arms from unbelievers, he holds a wooden sword, resting its point on the ground.[338] Each of the congregation next offers up some private supplication; after which, the Khaṭeeb recites a second khuṭbeh, which is always the same, or nearly so; part, of a similar nature to the first, but chiefly, prayer for the Prophet and his family, &c., and for the general welfare of the Muslims. This finished, the Khaṭeeb or Imám descends from the pulpit, and, stationed before the niche, after a form of words[339] differing slightly from the call to prayer has been chanted by the ministers on the elevated platform before mentioned, recites the divinely-ordained prayers of Friday (two rek'ahs), while the people do the same silently, keeping time with him exactly in the various postures. Thus are completed the Friday-prayers; but some of the congregation remain, and perform the ordinary divinely-ordained prayers of noon.[340]

NOTE 70. So in the Cairo edition. El-Muntaṣir bi-lláh was the great-grandson of Hároon Er-Rasheed, and acceded to the throne in the year of the Flight 247 (A.D. 861). A slight anachronism, therefore, is here presented, unless we suppose that the hero of the story told by the Sulṭán's steward was an old man at the period of the misfortune of the humpback. The reign of El-Muntaṣir was somewhat less than six months. The copy from which the old translation was made, and the edition of Breslau, date the adventure of the barber, here related, more than three centuries and a half later, in the reign of El-Mustaṣir bi-lláh.

NOTE 71. The practice of spunging, or the intrusion of strangers at entertainments, has long been very prevalent in Arab towns. An instance has been given towards the close of Note 22 to