Chapter vii

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NOTE 69. The doors in Eastern houses generally turn on two wooden pins; one fitting into a hole in the lintel; the other, into a hole immediately behind the threshold; and the latter is very short. It is therefore often easy to displace a door by raising it a little, which may be done by means of a projecting wooden lock; and in many cases, when the door cannot be displaced from its sockets, it may be raised sufficiently to remove the inner latch from its catch. The doors of the ancient temples and tombs in Egypt were formed as above described, with pins, which were often made of bronze.

NOTE 70. I here read "nimsheh" (also written "nimjeh" and "nimjáh"--from the Persian "neemjah") instead of "ḳamsheh." The latter is described by my sheykh, in a marginal note, as "a strip of leather divided into two, and tied together and nailed at the upper end to a piece of wood;" but the use of such an instrument in this case would be ridiculous. The name of "nimsheh" is often given to a royal dagger.

NOTE 71. As persons are often decapitated in an Eastern palace, a skin is made use of to receive the head and the blood. I believe it to be similar to the round skin used by travellers to eat upon; which is converted into a bag by means of a running string round the edge.

In concluding the present series of notes, I may state my opinion, that the two stories to which they relate are fully worthy of insertion in this collection, as extending the picture of _Arab_ life and manners, whatever may be thought of their _origin_.

[360] Thus commonly pronounced for "Sharrun kán," signifying "an evil hath come into existence." Names of this kind are sometimes given by the Arabs not in dispraise, but as prophetic of great achievements.

[361] "Light of the Place."

[362] "Delight of the Age."

[363] Mir-át ez-Zemán.

[364] "Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys," 8vo. vol. i. pp. 55 and 56.

[365] The Dynasty of the Fáṭimee Khaleefehs was founded by El-Mahdee in Western Africa, in the year of the Flight 297. His third successor, El-Mo'ezz li-deeni-lláh, conquered Egypt in the year 358, and the seat of his government was transferred to Cairo. As they claimed descent from Fáṭimeh, and were of the Shiya'ee sect, their possession of the fairest province of the orthodox (or 'Abbásee) Khaleefehs forms a strange episode in the history of El-Islám.--Their power was overthrown by Ṣaláḥ-ed-Deen, in the year 567.--ED.

[366] See Note 15 to