Part 49

Arab. "Yá Khálati"=mother's sister; a familiar address to the old, as uncle or nuncle (father's brother) to a man. The Arabs also hold that as a girl resembles her mother so a boy follows his uncle (mother's brother): hence the address "Ya tayyib al-Khál!"=O thou nephew of a good uncle. I have noted that physically this is often fact.

Footnote 608:

"Ay w' Alláhi," contracted popularly to Aywa, a word in every Moslem mouth and shunned by Christians because against orders Hebrew and Christian. The better educated Turks now eschew that eternal reference to Allah which appears in The Nights and which is still the custom of the vulgar throughout the world of Al-Islam.

Footnote 609:

The "Muzayyin" or barber in the East brings his basin and budget under his arm: he is not content only to shave, he must scrape the forehead, trim the eyebrows, pass the blade lightly over the nose and correct the upper and lower lines of the mustachios, opening the central parting and so forth. He is not a whit less a tattler and a scandalmonger than the old Roman tonsor or Figaro his _confrère_ in Southern Europe. The whole scene of the Barber is admirable, an excellent specimen of Arab humour and not over-caricatured. We all have met him.

Footnote 610:

Abdullah ibn Abbas was a cousin and a companion of the Apostle; also a well-known Commentator on the Koran and conserver of the traditions of Mohammed.

Footnote 611:

I have noticed the antiquity of this father of our sextant, a fragment of which was found in the Palace of Sennacherib. More concerning the "Arstable" (as Chaucer calls it) is given in my "Camoens: his Life and his Lusiads" p. 381.

Footnote 612:

Arab. "Simiyá" to rhyme with Kímiyá (alchemy proper). It is a subordinate branch of the Ilm al-Ruháni which I would translate "Spiritualism," and which is divided into two great branches, "Ilwí or Rahmáni" (the high or related to the Deity) and Siflí or Shaytáni (low, Satanic). To the latter belongs Al-Sahr, magic or the black art proper, gramarye, egromancy, while Al-Simiyá is white magic, electro-biology, a kind of natural and deceptive magic, in which drugs and perfumes exercise an important action. One of its principal branches is the Darb al-Mandal or magic mirror, of which more in a future page. See Boccaccio's Day x. Novel 5.

Footnote 613:

Chapt. iii. 128. See Sale (in loco) for the noble application of this text by the Imam Hasan, son of the Caliph Ali.

Footnote 614:

These proverbs at once remind us of our old friend Sancho Panza and are equally true to nature in the mouth of the Arab and of the Spaniard.

Footnote 615:

Our nurses always carry in the arms: Arabs place the children astraddle upon the hip and when older on the shoulder.

Footnote 616:

Eastern clothes allow this biblical display of sorrow and vexation, which with our European garb would look absurd: we must satisfy ourselves with maltreating our hats.

Footnote 617:

Koran xlviii., 8. It may be observed that according to the Ahádis (sayings of the Prophet) and the Sunnat (sayings and doings of Mahommed), all the hair should be allowed to grow or the whole head be clean shaven. Hence the "Shúshah," or topknot supposed to be left as a handle for drawing the wearer into Paradise; and the Zulf, or side-locks, somewhat like the ringlets of the Polish Jews, are both vain "Bida'at," or innovations, and therefore technically termed "Makrúh," a practice not laudable, neither "Halál" (perfectly lawful) nor "Harám" (forbidden by the law). When boys are first shaved, generally in the second or third year, a tuft is left on the crown and another over the forehead: but this is not the fashion amongst adults. Abu Hanifah, if I am rightly informed, wrote a treatise on the Shushah or long lock growing from the Násiyah (head-poll) which is also a precaution lest the decapitated Moslem's mouth be defiled by an impure hand; and thus it would resemble the chivalry-lock by which the Redskin brave (and even the "cowboy" of better times) facilitated the removal of his own scalp. Possibly the Turks had learned the practice from the Chinese and introduced it into Baghdad (Pilgrimage i., 240). The Badawi plait their locks in Kurún (horns) or Jadáil (ringlets) which are undone only to be washed with the water of the she-camel. The wild Sherifs wear Haffah, long elf-locks hanging down both sides of the throat, and shaved away about a finger's breadth round the forehead and behind the neck (Pilgrimage iii., 35-36). I have elsewhere noted the _accroche-cœurs_, the "idiot-fringe," etc.

Footnote 618:

Meats are rarely coloured in modern days; but Persian cooks are great adepts in staining rice for the "Puláo" (which we call after its Turkish corruption "pilaff"): it sometimes appears in rainbow-colours, red, yellow and blue; and in India is covered with gold and silver leaf. Europe retains the practice in tinting Pasch (Easter) eggs, the survival of the mundane ovum which was hatched at Easter-tide; and they are dyed red in allusion to the Blood of Redemption.

Footnote 619:

As I have noticed this is a mixture.

Footnote 620:

We say:—

'Tis rare the father in the son we see: He sometimes rises in the third degree.

Footnote 621:

Arab. "Ballán" _i.e._ the body-servant: "Ballánah" is a tire-woman.

Footnote 622:

Arab. "Darabukkah" a drum made of wood or earthenware (Lane, M. E., xviii.), and used by all in Egypt.

Footnote 623:

Arab. "Naihah" more generally "Naddábah" Lat. præfica or carina, a hired mourner, the Irish "Keener" at the conclamatio or coronach, where the Hullabaloo, Hulululu or Ululoo showed the survivors' sorrow.

Footnote 624:

These doggrels, which are like our street melodies, are now forgotten and others have taken their place. A few years ago one often heard, "Dus ya lallí" (tread, O my joy) and "Názil il'al-Ganínah" (Down into the garden) and these in due turn become obsolete. Lane (M. E. chapt. xviii.) gives the former _e.g._

Tread, O my joy! Tread, O my joy! Love of my love brings sore annoy,

A chorus to such stanzas as:—

Alexandrian damsels rare! ✿ Daintily o'er the floor ye fare: Your lips are sweet, are sugar-sweet, ✿ And purfled Cashmere shawls ye wear!

It maybe noted that "humming" is not a favourite practice with Moslems; if one of the company begin, another will say, "Go to the Kahwah" (the coffee-house, the proper music-hall) "and sing there!" I have elsewhere observed their dislike to Al-sifr or whistling.

Footnote 625:

Arab. Khalí'a=worn out, crafty, an outlaw; used like Span. "Perdido."

Footnote 626:

"Zabbál" is the scavenger, lit. a dung-drawer, especially for the use of the Hammam which is heated with the droppings of animals. "Wakkád" (stoker) is the servant who turns the fire. The verses are mere nonsense to suit the Barber's humour.

Footnote 627:

Arab. "Yá bárid"=O fool.

Footnote 628:

This form of blessing is chaunted from the Minaret about half-an-hour before midday, when the worshippers take their places in the mosque. At noon there is the usual Azán or prayer-call, and each man performs a two-bow, in honour of the mosque and its gathering, as it were. The Prophet is then blessed and a second Salám is called from the raised ambo or platform ("dikkah") by the divines who repeat the midday-call. Then an Imam recites the first Khutbah, or sermon "of praise"; and the congregation worships in silence. This is followed by the second exhortation "of Wa'az," dispensing the words of wisdom. The Imam now stands up before the Mihráb (prayer niche) and recites the Ikámah which is the common Azan with one only difference: after "Hie ye to salvation" it adds "Come is the time of supplication"; whence the name, "causing" (prayer) to stand (_i.e._ to begin). Hereupon the worshippers recite the Farz or Koran-commanded noon-prayer of Friday; and the unco'guid add a host of supererogatories. Those who would study the subject may consult Lane (M. E. chapt. iii. and its abstract in his "Arabian Nights," I, p. 430, or note 69 to Chapt. v.)

Footnote 629:

_i.e._, The women loosed their hair; an immodesty sanctioned only by a great calamity.

Footnote 630:

These small shops are composed of a "but" and a "ben" (Pilgrimage i. 99.)

Footnote 631:

Arab. "Kawwád," a popular term of abuse; hence the Span. and Port. "Alcoviteiro." The Italian "Galeotto" is from Galahalt, not Galahad.

Footnote 632:

_i.e._ "one seeking assistance in Allah." He was the son of Al-Záhir bi'lláh (one pre-eminent by the decree of Allah). Lane says (i. 430), "great-grandson of Harun al-Rashid," alluding to the first Mustansir son of Al-Mutawakkil (regn. A.H. 247-248=861-2). But this is the 56th Abbaside and regn. A.H. 623-640 (=1226-1242).

Footnote 633:

Arab. "Yaum al-Id," the Kurban Bairam of the Turks, the Pilgrimage festival. The story is historical. In the "Akd," a miscellany compiled by Ibn Abd Rabbuh (vulg. Rabbi-hi) of Cordova, who ob. A.H. 328=940 we read:—A spunger found ten criminals and followed them, imagining they were going to a feast; but lo, they were going to their deaths. And when they were slain and he remained, he was brought before the Khalifah (Al-Maamun) and Ibrahim son of Al-Mahdi related a tale to procure pardon for the man, whereupon the Khalifah pardoned him. Lane ii, 506.

Footnote 634:

Arab. "Nata' al-Dam"; the former word was noticed in the Tale of the Bull and the Ass. The leather of blood was not unlike the Sufrah and could be folded into a bag by a string running through rings round the edges. Moslem executioners were very expert and seldom failed to strike off the head with a single blow of the thin narrow blade with razor-edge, hard as diamond withal, which contrasted so strongly with the great coarse chopper of the European headsman.

Footnote 635:

The ground floor, which in all hot countries is held, and rightly so, unwholesome during sleep, is usually let for shops. This is also the case throughout Southern Europe, and extends to the Canary Islands and the Brazil.

Footnote 636:

This serious contemplation of street-scenery is one of the pleasures of the Harems.

Footnote 637:

We should say "smiled at him": the laugh was not intended as an affront.

Footnote 638:

Arab. "Fals ahmar." Fals is a fish-scale, also the smaller coin and the plural "Fulús" is the vulgar term for money (=Ital. _quattrini_) without specifying the coin. It must not be confounded with the "Fazzah," alias "Nuss," alias "Páráh" (Turk.); the latter being made, not of "red copper" but of a vile alloy containing like the Greek "Asper," some silver; and representing, when at par, the fortieth of a piastre, the latter being=2d. ⅖ths.

Footnote 639:

Arab. "Farajiyah," a long-sleeved robe; Lane's "Farageeyeh," M. E., chapt. i.

Footnote 640:

The tailor in the East, as in Southern Europe, is made to cut out the cloth in presence of its owner to prevent "cabbaging."

Footnote 641:

Expecting a present.

Footnote 642:

Alluding to the saying, "Kiss is the key to Kitty."

Footnote 643:

The "panel-dodge" is fatally common throughout the East, where a man found in the house of another is helpless.

Footnote 644:

This was the beginning of horseplay which often ends in a bastinado.

Footnote 645:

Hair-dyes, in the East, are all of vegetable matter, henna, indigo-leaves, galls, etc.: our mineral dyes are, happily for them, unknown. Herklots will supply a host of recipes. The Egyptian mixture which I quoted in Pilgrimage (ii., 274) is sulphate of iron and ammoniure of iron one part and gall nuts two parts, infused in eight parts of distilled water. It is innocuous but very poor as a dye.

Footnote 646:

Arab. Amrad, etymologically "beardless and handsome," but often used in a bad sense, to denote an effeminate, a catamite.

Footnote 647:

The Hindus prefer "having the cardinal points as her sole garment." Vêtu de climat, says Madame de Stael. In Paris nude statues are "draped in cerulean blue." Rabelais (iv., 29) robes King Shrovetide in grey and gold of a comical cut, nothing before, nothing behind with sleeves of the same.

Footnote 648:

This scene used to be enacted a few years ago in Paris for the benefit of concealed spectators, a young American being the victim. It was put down when one of the lookers-on lost his eye by a pen-knife thrust into the "crevice."

Footnote 649:

Meaning that the trick had been played by the Wazir's wife or daughter. I could mention sundry names at Cairo whose charming owners have done worse things than this unseemly frolic.

Footnote 650:

Arab. "Shayyun li'lláhi," a beggar's formula=per amor di Dio.

Footnote 651:

Noting how sharp-eared the blind become.

Footnote 652:

The blind in Egypt are notorious for insolence and violence, fanaticism and rapacity. Not a few foreigners have suffered from them (Pilgrimage i. 148). In former times many were blinded in infancy by their mothers, and others blinded themselves to escape conscription or honest hard work. They could always obtain food, especially as Mu'ezzins; and were preferred because they could not take advantage of the minaret by spying into their neighbours' households. The Egyptian race is chronically weak-eyed, the effect of the damp hot climate of the valley, where ophthalmia prevailed even during the pre-Pharaohnic days. The great Sesostris died stone-blind and his successor lost his sight for ten years (Pilgrimage ii., 176). That the Fellahs are now congenitally weak-eyed, may by seen by comparing them with negroes imported from Central Africa. Ophthalmia rages, especially during the damp season, in the lower Nile-valley; and the best cure for it is a fortnight's trip to the Desert where, despite glare, sand and wind, the eye readily recovers tone.

Footnote 653:

_i.e._ With kicks and cuffs, and blows, as is the custom. (Pilgrimage i., 174.)

Footnote 654:

Arab. Káid (whence "Alcayde") a word still much used in North Western Africa.

Footnote 655:

Arab. "Sullam"=lit. a ladder; a frame-work of sticks, used by way of our triangles or whipping-posts.

Footnote 656:

This is one of the feats of Al-Simiyá=white magic; fascinating the eyes. In Europe it has lately taken the name of "Electro-biology."

Footnote 657:

Again by means of the "Simiyá" or power of fascination possessed by the old scoundrel.

Footnote 658:

A formula for averting "Al-Ayn," the evil eye. It is always unlucky to meet a one-eyed man, especially the first thing in the morning and when setting out on any errand. The idea is that the fascinated one will suffer from some action of the physical eye. Monoculars also are held to be rogues: so the Sanskrit saying "Few one-eyed men be honest men."

Footnote 659:

Al-Nashshár from Nashr=sawing: so the fiddler in Italian is called the "village-saw" (_Sega del villaggio_). He is the Alnaschar of the Englished Galland and Richardson. The tale is very old. It appears as the Brahman and the Pot of Rice in the Panchatantra; and Professor Benfey believes (as usual with him) that this, with many others, derives from a Buddhist source. But I would distinctly derive it from Æsop's market-woman who kicked over her eggs; whence the Lat. prov. Ante victoriam canere triumphum=to sell the skin before you have caught the bear. In the "Kalilah and Dimnah" and its numerous offspring it is the "Ascetic with his Jar of oil and honey;" in Rabelais (i, 33) Echephron's shoemaker spills his milk, and so La Perette in La Fontaine. See M. Max Muller's "Chips," vol. iii., appendix. The curious reader will compare my version with that which appears at the end of Richardson's Arabic Grammar (Edit. of 1811): he had a better, or rather a fuller MS. (p. 199) than any yet printed.

Footnote 660:

Arab. "Atr"=any perfume especially oil of roses; whence our word "Ottar," through the Turkish corruption.

Footnote 661:

The texts give "dirhams" (100,000=5,000 dinars) for "dinars," a clerical error as the sequel shows.

Footnote 662:

"Young slaves," says Richardson, losing "colour."

Footnote 663:

Nothing more calculated to give affront than such a refusal. Richardson (p. 204) who, however, doubts his own version (p. 208) here translates, "and I will not give liberty to my soul (spouse) but in her apartments." The Arabic or rather Cairene, is, "wa lá akhalli rúhi"=I will not let myself go _i.e._ be my every-day self, etc.

Footnote 664:

"Whilst she is in astonishment and terror." (Richardson).

Footnote 665:

"Chamber of robes," Richardson whose text has "Nám" for "Manám."

Footnote 666:

"Till I compleat her distress," Richardson, whose text is corrupt.

Footnote 667:

"Sleep by her side," R. the word "Náma" bearing both senses.

Footnote 668:

"Will take my hand," R. "takabbal" being also ambiguous.

Footnote 669:

Arab. "Mu'arras" one who brings about "'Ars," marriages, etc. So the Germ. "Kupplerinn," a Coupleress. It is one of the many synonyms for a pimp, and a word in general use (Pilgrimage i., 276). The most insulting term, like Dayyús, insinuates that the man panders for his own wife.

Footnote 670:

Of hands and face, etc. See Night cccclxiv.

Footnote 671:

Arab. "Sadakah" (sincerity), voluntary or superogatory alms, opposed to "Zakát" (purification), legal alms which are indispensable. "Prayer carries us half way to Allah; fasting brings us to the door of His palace and alms-deeds (Sadakah) causes us to enter." For "Zakát" no especial rate is fixed; but it should not be less than one-fortieth of property or two and a half per cent. Thus Al-Islam is, as far as I know, the only faith which makes a poor-rate (Zakát) obligatory and which has invented a property-tax, as opposed to the unjust and unfair income-tax upon which England prides herself.

Footnote 672:

A Greek girl.

Footnote 673:

This was making himself very easy; and the idea is that the gold in pouch caused him to be so bold. Lane's explanation (in loco) is all wrong. The pride engendered by sudden possession of money is a _lieu commun_ amongst Eastern story-tellers; even in the beast-fables the mouse which has stolen a few gold pieces becomes confident and stouthearted.

Footnote 674:

Arab. "Al-Málihah" also means the beautiful (fem.), from "Milh"=salt, splendour, etc. The Mac. Edit. has "Mumallihah"=a salt-vessel.

Footnote 675:

_i.e._ to see if he felt the smart.

Footnote 676:

Arab. "Sardábeh" (Persian)=an underground room used for coolness in the hot season. It is unknown in Cairo but every house in Baghdad, in fact throughout the Mesopotamian cities, has one. It is on the principle of the underground cellar without which wine will not keep: Lane (i., 406) calls it a "vault."

Footnote 677:

In the orig. "O old woman!" which is insulting.

Footnote 678:

So the Italians say "a quail to skin."

Footnote 679:

"Amán" is the word used for quarter on the battle-field; and there are Joe Millers about our soldiers in India mistaking it for "a man" or (_Scotticè_) "a mon."

Footnote 680:

Illustrating the Persian saying "Allah himself cannot help a fool."

Footnote 681:

Any article taken from the person and given to a criminal is a promise of pardon, of course on the implied condition of plenary confession and of becoming "King's evidence."

Footnote 682:

A naive proposal to share the plunder.

Footnote 683:

In popular literature "Schacabac." And from this tale comes our saying "a Barmecide's Feast," _i.e._ an illusion.

Footnote 684:

The Castrato at the door is still (I have said,) the fashion of Cairo and he acts "Suisse" with a witness.

Footnote 685:

As usual in the East, the mansion was a hollow square surrounding what in Spain is called _Patio_: the outer entrance was far from the inner, showing the extent of the grounds.

Footnote 686:

"Nahnu málihín"=we are on terms of salt, said and say the Arabs. But the traveller must not trust in these days to the once sacred tie; there are tribes which will give bread with one hand and stab with the other. The Eastern use of salt is a curious contrast with that of Westerns, who made it an invidious and inhospitable distinction, _e.g._ to sit above the salt-cellar and below the salt. Amongst the ancients, however, "he took bread and salt" means he swore, the food being eaten when an oath was taken. Hence the "Bride cake" of salt, water and flour.

Footnote 687:

Arab. "Harísah," the meat-pudding before explained.

Footnote 688:

Arab. "Sikbáj," before explained; it is held to be a lordly dish, invented by Khusraw Parwiz. "Fatted duck" says the Bresl. Edit. ii. 308, with more reason.

Footnote 689:

I was reproved in Southern Abyssinia for eating without this champing, "Thou feedest like a beggar who muncheth silently in his corner;" and presently found that it was a sign of good breeding to eat as noisily as possible.

Footnote 690:

Barley in Arabia is, like our oats, food for horses: it fattens at the same time that it cools them. Had this been known to our cavalry when we first occupied Egypt in 1883-4 our losses in horse-flesh would have been far less; but official ignorance persisted in feeding the cattle upon heated oats and the riders upon beef, which is indigestible, instead of mutton, which is wholesome.

Footnote 691:

_i.e._ "I conjure thee by God."

Footnote 692:

_i.e._ "This is the very thing for thee."

Footnote 693:

_i.e._, at random.

Footnote 694:

This is the way of slaughtering the camel, whose throat is never cut on account of the thickness of the muscles. "Égorger un chameau" is a mistake often made in French books.

Footnote 695:

_i.e._ I will break bounds.

Footnote 696:

The Arabs have a saying corresponding with the dictum of the Salernitan school:—

Noscitur a labiis quantum sit virginis antrum: Noscitur a naso quanta sit hasta viro; (A maiden's mouth shows what's the make of her _chose_; And man's mentule one knows by the length of his nose.)

Whereto I would add:—

And the eyebrows disclose how the lower wig grows.

The observations are purely empirical but, as far as my experience extends, correct.

Footnote 697:

Arab. "Kahkahah," a very low proceeding.

Footnote 698:

Or "for every death there is a cause;" but the older Arabs had a saying corresponding with "Deus non fecit mortem."

Footnote 699:

The King's barber is usually a man of rank for the best of reasons that he holds his Sovereign's life between his fingers. One of these noble Figaros in India married an English lady who was, they say, unpleasantly surprised to find out what were her husband's official duties.

END OF VOL. I.

وآلسلام

INDEX.

Abbas "hero eponymus" of the Abbaside dynasty, 188

Abdullah ibn Abbas, companion and traditioner, 304

Abú Kidr=father of the cooking-pot, _ib._

Abú Shámah=father of a cheek-mole, 269

Abú Shámmah=father of a smeller or nose, _ib._

Abú Shawárib=father of mustachios, _ib._

Abu Shiháb, father of the shooting star=evil spirit, 221

Abú Yakzán=the wakener=ass, 16 =cock, 18

Ad=tribe of prehistoric Arabs, 65

Adab=anything between good education and good manners, 132

Aghá=master, politely applied to an Eunuch, 235

Ahdab, hunchback=classical Ak'as, 213

A'in=Smiter with the evil eye, 123

Ajal=appointed period of life, 74

'Ajami=foreigner, esp. Persian, 120

Ajuz, for old woman, highly insulting; use Shaybah, 174

Akásirah=Kisra-Kings, 75

Akrás=cakes, 83

Al-Aftah=Broad-o'-Brow, 17

Al-Ajam=region not Arab, Persia, 2

Al-Amin, son and successor of Hárún al-Rashíd, 185

Al-Aríf=monitor, 231

Al-Asr=time or prayer of mid-afternoon, 240

Al-Bashárah=gift of good tidings, guerdon, 30

Al-Bostáni=gardener, family name from original occupation, 266

Al-Faranj=European, 296

Al-Hasá=plain of pebbles, west of Damascus, 234

Al-Kahánah=the craft of a Káhin or soothsayer, 28

Al-Maamún, son and successor of Hárún al-Rashíd, 185

Al-Málihah=salt-girl; beautiful, 340

Al-Mustansir bi'llah=one seeking help in Allah, 317

Al-Nashshár=sawing, 335

Al-Níl=flood season corresponding to mid-summer, 290

Al-Rauzah=the gardens, 291

Al-Safar Zafar=voyaging is victory, 250

Al-Sahr=magic, black art, 305

Al-Záhir bi'llah=one pre-eminent by the decree of Allah, 317

Al-Zalamah (tyrants, oppressors)=police and employés, 273

Allah! Allah!=I conjure thee by God, _Passim_

Allah hath said, formula of quoting the Koran, 61

Allah Karím=Allah is all beneficent, 32

Allah will open thee, a formula of refusing, _ib._