Chapter ii

.

[367] "El-Khiṭaṭ:" Account of the Palaces of the Khaleefehs.

[368] Dr. Millengen's Curiosities of Medical Experience, quoted in the Literary Gazette, No. 1043.

[369] The art here mentioned was first made known to Europeans by a Frenchman, M. Du Vigneau, in a work entitled "Secrétaire Turc, contenant l'Art d'exprimer ses pensées sans se voir, sans se parler, et sans s'écrire:" Paris, 1688: in-12.--Von Hammer has also given an interesting paper on this subject in the "Mines de l'Orient," No. 1: Vienna, 1809. (Note to Marcel's "Contes du Cheykh El-Mohdy," vol. iii. pp. 327 and 328: Paris, 1833.)

[370] Called "ghásool el-azrár." In Delile's Flora Ægyptiaca, the name of ghásool is given to the mesembryanthemum nodiflorum, class icosandria, order pentagynia.

[371] This name is now given to sherbet.

[372] Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, ch. x.--The aloe-plant is called "ṣabir," "ṣabr," "ṣibr," and "ṣabbárah." The second of these words signifies "patience;" and so does the root of _all_ of them: and the last signifies "very patient." The _reason_ of its having these appellations cannot, of course, be _proved_.

[373] See Marcel, _ubi suprà_. He states that Von Hammer's vocabulary of flowers and other hieroglyphic objects contains 120 articles; and that of Du Vigneau, 179; almost all of the former being the same as those of the latter.

[374] Ch. xxviii. v. 19.

37 5: Ch. v. v. 27.--This anecdote is from the Ḥalbet el-Kumeyt, ch. viii.--[Káfoor was a black eunuch purchased by El-Ikhsheed, the first of the virtually-independent dynasty of the Ikhsheedeeyeh, which fell before the Fáṭimee Khaleefehs. Káfoor was regent of Egypt for upwards of twenty years, during the reigns of his master's two sons; and was actual governor from the year of the Flight 355 to 357.--ED.]

[376] Sometimes, also, it means "May God cause thee to experience grief!" or "sorrow!" and, used in this sense, it is similar to the phrase, often occurring in this work, "the world became black before his face."

[377] The zikr here described was performed near the tomb of a saint, for whose sake it was celebrated. The ceremony is often performed in a sepulchral mosque, and often in the court, or in a chamber, of a private house.

[378] Marginal note by my sheykh.

[379] Idem.

[380] The "Modern Egyptians."

[381] See Note 57 to Chapter iii .

[382] As shewn in Note 68 to Chapter iv .

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