[332]This is ad captandum.The lovers becoming Moslems would secure the sympathy of the audience.In the sequel (Night dccclviii) we learn that the wilful young woman was a born Moslemah who had married a Jew but had never Judaized.
[333]The doggerel of this Kasidah is not so phenomenal as some we have seen.
[334]Arab.''Andam'=Brazil wood,vol.iii.263.
[335]Arab.'Him….'See supra,p.102.
[336]i.e.her favours were not lawful till the union was sanctified by heartwhole (if not pure) love.
[337]Arab.'Mansār wa munazzam=oratio soluta et ligata.
[338]i.e.the cupbearers.
[339]Which is not worse than usual.
[340]i.e.'Ornament of Qualities.'
[341]The'Akik,a mean and common stone,ranks high in Moslem poetry on account of the saying of Mohammed recorded by Ali and Ayishah'Seal with seals of Carnelian.'('Akik.)
[342]See note ii.at the end of this volume.
[343]Arab.'Mahall'as opposed to the lady's'Manzil,'which would be better'Mak m.'The Arabs had many names for their old habitations,e.g.;Kubbah,of brick;Sutrah,of sun-dried mud;
Hazirah,of wood;Tir f,a tent of leather;Khab a,of wool;
Kash'a,of skins;Nakh d,of camel's or goat's hair;Khaymah,of cotton cloth;Wabar,of soft hair as the camel's undercoat and Fust t (the well-known P.N.) a tent of horsehair or any hair (Sha'ar) but Wabar.
[344]This is the Maghribi form of the Arab.Sāk=a bazar-street,known from Tanjah (Tangiers) to Timbuctoo.
[345]Arab.'Walimah'usually=a wedding-feast.According to the learned Nasif alYazaji the names of entertainments are as follows: Al-Jafal…=a general invitation,opp.to Al-Nakar…;especial;Khurs,a childbirth feast;'Akikah,when the boy-babe is first shaved;A'z r=circumcision-feast;Hiz k,when the boy has finished his perlection of the Koran;Mil k,on occasion of marriage-offer;Wazimah,a mourning entertainment;Wakirah=a'house-warming';Naki'ah,on returning from wayfare;'Akirah,at beginning of the month Rajab;Kir…=a guest-feast and Maadubah,a feast for other cause;any feast.
[346]Arab.'Anistan'the pop.phrase=thy company gladdens us.
[347]Here'Mu kh t'or ****** mutual brotherhood would be=entering into a formal agreement for partnership.For the forms of'****** brotherhood,'see vol.iii.15.
[348]Arab.'Ish rah'in classical Arab.signs with the finger (beckoning);Aum with the hand;Ramz,with the lips;
Khalaj,with the eyelids (wink);and Ghamz with the eye.Aum z is a furtive glance,especially of women,and Ilh z,a side-glance from lahaza,limis oculis intuitus est.See Preston's Al-Hariri;p.181.
[349]Arab.'Haudaj'(Hind.Haudah,vulg.
Howda=elephant-saddle),the women's camel-litter,a cloth stretched over a wooden frame.See the Prize-poem of Lebid,v.12.
[350]i.e.the twelve days' visit.
[351]See note,vol.vii.267.So Dryden (Virgil):--'And the hoarse raven on the blasted bough By croaking to the left presaged the coming blow.'
And Gay (Fable xxxvii.);'That raven on the left-hand oak;Curse on his ill-betiding croak!'
In some Persian tales two crows seen together are a good omen.
[352]Vulgar Moslems hold that each man's fate is written in the sutures of his skull but none can read the lines.See vol.iii.123.
[353]i.e.cease not to bemoan her lot whose moon-faced beloved ones are gone.
[354]Arab.'Rukb'used of a return caravan;and also meaning travellers on camels.The vulgar however apply'R kib'(a camel-rider) to a man on horseback who is properly F ris plur.
'Khayy lah,'while'Khayy l'is a good rider.Other names are'Fayy l'(elephant-rider),Baghgh l (mule-rider) and Hamm r (donkeyrider).
[355]A popular exaggeration.See vol.i.117
[356]Lit.Empty of tent-ropes (Atn b).
[357]Arab.''Abir,'a fragrant powder sprinkled on face;body and clothes.In India it is composed of rice flower or powdered bark of the mango,Deodar (uvaria longifolia);Sandalwood,lign-aloes or curcuma (zerumbat or zedoaria) with rose-flowers,camphor,civet and anise-seed.There are many of these powders: see in Herklots Chiks ,Phul,Ood,Sundul,Uggur;and Urgujja.
[358]i.e.fair faced boys and women.These lines are from the Bresl.Edit.x.160.
[359]i.e.the Chief Kazi.For the origin of the Office and title see vol.ii.90,and for the Kazi al-Arab who administers justice among the Badawin see Pilgrimage iii.45.
[360]Arab.'Raas al-M l'=capital,as opposed to Rib or Ribh=interest.This legal expression has been adopted by all Moslem races.
[361]Our Aden which is thus noticed by Abulfeda (A.D.1331):
'Aden in the lowlands of Teh mah also called Abyana from a man (who found it?),built upon the seashore,a station (for land travellers) and a sailing-place for merchant ships India-bound;is dry and sunparcht (Kashifah,squalid,scorbutic) and sweet water must be imported. It lies 86 parasangs from San' but Ibn Haukal following the travellers makes it three stages.The city,built on the skirt of a wall-like mountain,has a watergate and a landgate known as Bab al-S kayn.But'Adan L'ah (the modest,the timid,the less known as opposed to Abyan,the better known?) is a city in the mountains of Sabir,Al-Yaman,whence issued the supporters of the Fatimite Caliphs of Egypt.''Adan etymologically means in Arab.and Heb.pleasure ({Greek letters}),Eden (the garden),the Heaven in which spirits will see Allah and our'Coal-hole of the East,'which we can hardly believe ever to have been an Eden.Mr.Badger who supplied me with this note described the two Adens in a paper in Ocean Highways,which he cannot now find.In the'Aj ib al-Makhlāk t;Al-Kazwini (ob.A.D.1275) derives the name from Ibn Sin n bin Ibrahim;and is inclined there to place the Bir al-Mu'attal (abandoned well) and the Kasr alMashid (lofty palace) of Koran xxii.44;and he adds'Kasr al-Misyad'to those mentioned in the tale of Sayf al-Mulāk and Badi'a al-Jam l.