The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 3

R >> Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 3

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[FN#51] Hence the addresses to the Deity: Ya Satir and Ya Sattar-
-Thou who veilest the sins of Thy Servants! said e.g., when a
woman is falling from her donkey, etc.

[FN#52] A necessary precaution, for the headsman who would
certainly lose his own head by overhaste.

[FN#53] The passage has also been rendered, "and rejoiced him by
what he said" (Lane i, 600).

[FN#54] Arab. "Hurr"=noble, independent (opp. to 'Abd=a servile)
often used to express animae nobilitas as in Acts xvii.
11; where the Beroeans were "more noble" than the Thessalonians.
The Princess means that the Prince would not lie with her before
marriage.

[FN#55] The Persian word is now naturalized as Anglo-Egypeian.

[FN#56] Arab. "khassat hu" = removed his testicles, gelded him.

[FN#57] Here ends the compound tale of Taj al-Muluk cum Aziz plus
Azizah, and we return to the history of King Omar's sons.

[FN#58] "Zibl" popularly pronounced Zabal, means "dung." Khan is
"Chief," as has been noticed; "Zabbal," which Torrens renders
literally "dung-drawer," is one who feeds the Hammam with bois-
de-vache, etc.

[FN#59] i.e one who fights the Jihad or "Holy War": it is
equivalent to our "good knight."

[FN#60] Arab. "Malik." Azud al Daulah, a Sultan or regent under
the Abbaside Caliph Al-Ta'i li 'llah (regn. A.H. 363-381) was the
first to take the title of "Malik." The latter in poetry is still
written Malik.

[FN#61] A townlet on the Euphrates, in the "awwal Sham," or
frontier of Syria.

[FN#62] i.e., the son would look to that.

[FN#63] A characteristic touch of Arab pathos, tender and true.

[FN#64] Arab. "Mawarid" from "ward" = resorting to pool or water-
pit (like those of "Gakdul") for drinking, as opposed to
"Sadr"=returning after having drunk at it. Hence the "Sadir"
(part. act.) takes precedence of the "Warid" in Al-Hariri (Ass.
of the Badawi).

[FN#65] One of the fountains of Paradise (Koran, chaps. Ixxvi.):
the word lit. means "water flowing pleasantly down the throat."
The same chapter mentions "Zanjabil," or the Ginger-fount, which
to the Infidel mind unpleasantly suggests "ginger pop."

[FN#66] Arab. "Takhil" = adorning with Kohl.

[FN#67] The allusions are far-fetched and obscure as in
Scandinavian poetry. Mr. Payne (ii. 314) translates "Naml" by
"net." I understand the ant (swarm) creeping up the cheeks, a
common simile for a young beard. The lovers are in the Laza
(hell) of jealousy etc., yet feel in the Na'im (heaven) of love
and robe in green, the hue of hope, each expecting to be the
favoured one.

[FN#68] Arab. "Ukhuwan," the classical term. There are two
chamomiles, the white (Babunaj) and the yellow (Kaysun), these
however are Syrian names and plants are differently called in
almost every Province of Arabia

[FN#69] In nomadic life the parting of lovers happens so
frequently that it become. a stock topic in poetry and often, as
here, the lover complains of parting when he is not parted. But
the gravamen lies in the word "Wasl" which may mean union,
meeting, reunion Or coition. As Ka'ab ibn Zuhayr began his famous
poem with "Su'ad hath departed," 900 imitators (says Al-Siyuti)
adopted the Nasib or address to the beloved and Su'ad came to
signify a cruel, capricious mistress.

[FN#70] As might be expected from a nation of camel-breeders
actual cautery which can cause only counter-irritation, is a
favourite nostrum; and the Hadis or prophetic saying is "Akhir
al-dawa (or al-tibb) al-Kayy" = cautery is the end of medicine-
cure; and "Fire and sickness cannot cohabit." Most of the Badawi
bear upon their bodies grisly marks Of this heroic treatment,
whose abuse not unfrequently brings on gangrene. The Hadis
(Burckhardt, Proverbs, No. 30) also means "if nothing else avail,
take violent measures.

[FN#71] The Spaniards have the same expression: "Man is fire and
woman is tinder."

[FN#72] Arab. "Bashik" from Persian "Bashah" (accipiter Nisus) a
fierce little species of sparrow-hawk which I have described in
"Falconry in the Valley of the Indus" (p. 14, etc.).

[FN#73] Lit. "Coals (fit) for frying pan."

[FN#74] Arab. "Libdah," the sign of a pauper or religious
mendicant. He is addressed "Ya Abu libdah!" (O father of a felt
calotte!)

[FN#75] In times of mourning Moslem women do not use perfumes or
dyes, like the Henna here alluded to in the pink legs and feet of
the dove.

[FN#76] Koran, chaps. ii. 23. The idea is repeated in some forty
Koranic passages.

[FN#77] A woman's name, often occurring. The "daughters of
Sa'ada" are zebras, so called because "they resemble women in
beauty and graceful agility."

[FN#78] Arab. "Tiryak" from Gr. æ a drug against
venomous bites. It was compounded mainly of treacle, and that of
Baghdad and Irak was long held sovereign. The European
equivalent, "Venice treacle," (Theriaca Andromachi) is an
electuary containing many elements. Badawin eat for counter-
poison three heads of garlic in clarified butter for forty days.
(Pilgrimage iii 77 )

[FN#79] Could Cervantes have read this? In Algiers he might
easily have heard it recited by the tale-tellers. Kanmakan is the
typical Arab Knight, gentle and valiant as Don Quixote Sabbah is
the Grazioso, a "Beduin" Sancho Panza. In the "Romance of Antar"
we have a similar contrast with Ocab who says: "Indeed I am no
fighter: the sword in my hand-palm chases only pelicans ;" and,
"whenever you kill a satrap, I'll plunder him."

[FN#80] i.e. The Comely, son of the Spearman, son of the Lion, or
Hero.

[FN#81] Arab. "Ushari." Old Purchas (vi., i. 9) says there are
three kinds of camels (1 ) Huguin (=Hejin) of tall stature and
able to carry 1,000 lbs. (2) Bechete (=Bukhti) the two-humped
Bactrian before mentioned and, (3) the Raguahill (Rahil) small
dromedaries unfit for burden but able to cover a hundred miles in
a day. The "King of Timbukhtu" (not "Bukhtu's well" pop.
Timbuctoo) had camels which reach Segelmesse (Sijalmas) or Darha,
nine hundred miles in eight days at most. Lyon makes the Maherry
(also called El-Heirie=Mahri) trot nine miles an hour for a long
time. Other travellers in North Africa report the Sabayee
(Saba'i=seven days weeder) as able to get over six hundred and
thirty miles (or thirty-five caravan stages=each eighteen miles)
in five to seven days. One of the dromedaries in the "hamlah" or
caravan of Mr. Ensor (Journey through Nubia and Darfoor--a
charming book) travelled one thousand one hundred and ten miles
in twenty- seven days. He notes that his beasts were better with
water every five to seven days, but in the cold season could do
without drink for sixteen. I found in Al-Hijaz at the end of
August that the camels suffered much after ninety hours without
drink (Pilgrimage iii. 14). But these were "Judi" fine-haired
animals as opposed to "Khawar" (the Khowas of Chesney, p. 333),
coarse-haired, heavy, slow brutes which will not stand great
heat.

[FN#82] i.e. Fortune so willed it (euphemistically).

[FN#83] The "minaret" being feminine is usually compared with a
fair young girl. The oldest minaret proper is supposed to have
been built in Damascus by the Ommiade Caliph (No. X.) Al-Walid
A.H. 86-96 (=705-715). According to Ainsworth (ii. 113) the
second was at Kuch Hisar in Chaldea.

[FN#84] None of the pure Badawi can swim for the best of reasons,
want of waters.

[FN#85] The baser sort of Badawi is never to be trusted: he is a
traitor born, and looks upon fair play as folly or cowardice.
Neither oath nor kindness can bind him: he unites the cruelty of
the cat with the wildness of the wolf. How many Englishmen have
lost their lives by not knowing these elementary truths! The race
has not changed from the days of Mandeville (A.D. 1322) whose
"Arabians, who are called Bedouins and Ascopards (?), are right
felonious and foul, and of a cursed nature." In his day they
"carried but one shield and one spear, without other arm :" now,
unhappily for travellers, they have matchlocks and most tribes
can manufacture a something called by courtesy gunpowder.

[FN#86] Thus by Arab custom they become friends.

[FN#87] Our classical term for a noble Arab horse.

[FN#88] In Arab. "Khayl" is=horse; Husan, a stallion; Hudud, a
brood stallion; Faras, a mare (but sometimes used as a horse and
meaning "that tears over the ground"), Jiyad a steed (noble);
Kadish, a nag (ignoble); Mohr a colt and Mohrah, a filly. There
are dozens of other names but these suffice for conversation

[FN#89] Al-Katul, the slayer; Al-Majnun, the mad; both high
compliments in the style inverted.

[FN#90] This was a highly honourable exploit, which would bring
the doer fame as well as gain.

[FN#91] This is a true and life-like description of horse-
stealing in the Desert: Antar and Burckhardt will confirm every
word. A noble Arab stallion is supposed to fight for his rider
and to wake him at night if he see any sign of danger. The owner
generally sleeps under the belly of the beast which keeps eyes
and ears alert till dawn.

[FN#92] Arab. "Yaum al tanadi," i.e. Resurrection-day.

[FN#93] Arab. "Bilad al-Sudan"=the Land of the Blacks, negro-
land, whence the slaves came, a word now fatally familiar to
English ears. There are, however, two regions of the same name,
the Eastern upon the Upper Nile and the Western which contains
the Niger Valley, and each considers itself the Sudan. And the
reader must not confound the Berber of the Upper Nile, the
Berderino who acts servant in Lower Egypt, with the Berber of
Barbary: the former speaks an African language; the latter a
"Semitic" (Arabic) tongue.

[FN#94] "Him" for "her."

[FN#95] Arab. "Saibah," a she-camel freed from labour under
certain conditions amongst the pagan Arabs; for which see Sale
(Prel. Disc. sect. v.).

[FN#96] Arab. "Marba'." In early spring the Badawi tribes leave
the Rasm or wintering-place (the Turco-Persian "Kishlak") in the
desert, where winter-rains supply them, and make for the Yaylak,
or summer-quarters, where they find grass and water. Thus the
great Ruwala tribe appears regularly every year on the eastern
slopes of the Anti-Libanus (Unexplored Syria, i. 117), and hence
the frequent "partings."

[FN#97] This "renowning it" and boasting of one's tribe (and
oneself) before battle is as natural as the war-cry: both are
intended to frighten the foe and have often succeeded. Every
classical reader knows that the former practice dates from the
earliest ages. It is still customary in Arabia during the furious
tribal fights, the duello on a magnificent scale which often ends
in half the combatants on either side being placed hors-de-
combat. A fair specimen of "renowning it" is Amru's Suspended
Poem with its extravagant panegyric of the Taghlab tribe (p. 64,
"Arabian Poetry for English Readers," etc., by W. A. Clouston,
Glasgow: privately printed MDCCCLXXXI.; and transcribed from Sir
William Jones's translation).

[FN#98] The "Turk" appeared soon amongst the Abbaside Caliphs.
Mohammed was made to prophecy of them under the title Banu
Kanturah, the latter being a slave-girl of Abraham. The Imam Al-
Shafi'i (A.H. 195=A.D. 810) is said to have foretold their rule
in Egypt where an Ottoman defended him against a donkey-boy. (For
details see Pilgrimage i. 216 ) The Caliph Al-Mu'atasim bi'llah
(A.D. 833-842) had more than 10,000 Turkish slaves and was the
first to entrust them with high office; so his Arab subjects
wrote of him:--

A wretched Turk is thy heart's desire;
And to them thou showest thee dam and sire.

His successor Al-Wasik (Vathek, of the terrible eyes) was the
first to appoint a Turk his Sultan or regent. After his reign
they became praetorians and led to the downfall of the Abbasides.

[FN#99] The Persian saying is "First at the feast and last at the
fray."

[FN#100] i.e. a tempter, a seducer.

[FN#101] Arab. "Wayl-ak" here probably used in the sense of
"Wayh-ak" an expression of affectionate concern.

[FN#102] Firdausi, the Homer of Persia, affects the same
magnificent exaggeration. The trampling of men and horses raises
such a dust that it takes one layer (of the seven) from earth and
adds it to the (seven of the) Heavens. The "blaze" on the
stallion's forehead (Arab. "Ghurrah") is the white gleam of the
morning.

[FN#103] A noted sign of excitement in the Arab blood horse, when
the tail looks like a panache covering the hind-quarter.

[FN#104] i.e. Prince Kanmakan.

[FN#105] The "quality of mercy" belongs to the noble Arab,
whereas the ignoble and the Bada win are rancorous and revengeful
as camels.

[FN#106] Arab. "Khanjar," the poison was let into the grooves and
hollows of the poniard.

[FN#107] The Pers. "Bang", Indian "Bhang", Maroccan "Fasukh" and
S. African "Dakha." (Pilgrimage i. 64.) I heard of a "Hashish-
orgie" in London which ended in half the experimentalists being
on their sofas for a week. The drug is useful for stokers, having
the curious property of making men insensible to heat. Easterns
also use it for "Imsak" prolonging coition of which I speak
presently.

[FN#108] Arab. "Hashshashin;" whence De Sacy derived "Assassin."
A notable effect of the Hashish preparation is wildly to excite
the imagination, a kind of delirium imaginans sive phantasticum .

[FN#109] Meaning "Well done!" Mashallah (Ma shaa 'llah) is an
exclamation of many uses, especially affected when praising man
or beast for fear lest flattering words induce the evil eye.

[FN#110] Arab. "Kabkab" vulg. "Kubkab." They are between three
and ten inches high, and those using them for the first time in
the slippery Hammam must be careful.

[FN#111] Arab. "Majlis"=sitting. The postures of coition,
ethnologically curious and interesting, are subjects so extensive
that they require a volume rather than a note. Full information
can be found in the Ananga-ranga, or Stage of the Bodiless One, a
treatise in Sanskrit verse vulgarly known as Koka Pandit from the
supposed author, a Wazir of the great Rajah Bhoj, or according to
others, of the Maharajah of Kanoj. Under the title Lizzat al-Nisa
(The Pleasures--or enjoying--of Women) it has been translated
into all the languages of the Moslem East, from Hindustani to
Arabic. It divides postures into five great divisions: (1) the
woman lying supine, of which there are eleven subdivisions; (2)
lying on her side, right or left, with three varieties; (3)
sitting, which has ten, (4) standing, with three subdivisions,
and (5) lying prone, with two. This total of twenty- nine, with
three forms of "Purushayit," when the man lies supine (see the
Abbot in Boccaccio i. 4), becomes thirty-two, approaching the
French quarante fa‡ons. The Upavishta, majlis, or sitting
postures, when one or both "sit at squat" somewhat like birds,
appear utterly impossible to Europeans who lack the pliability of
the Eastern's limbs. Their object in congress is to avoid tension
of the muscles which would shorten the period of enjoyment. In
the text the woman lies supine and the man sits at squat between
her legs: it is a favourite from Marocco to China. A literal
translation of the Ananga range appeared in 1873 under the name
of Kama-Shastra; or the Hindoo Art of Love (Ars Amoris Indica);
but of this only six copies were printed. It was re-issued
(printed but not published) in 1885. The curious in such matters
will consult the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (London, privately
printed, 1879) by Pisanus Fraxi (H. S. Ashbee).

[FN#112] i.e. Le Roi Crotte.

[FN#113] This seems to be a punning allusion to Baghdad, which in
Persian would mean the Garden (bagh) of Justice (dad). See
"Biographical Notices of Persian Poets" by Sir Gore Ouseley,
London, Oriental Translation Fund, 1846

[FN#114] The Kardoukhoi (Carduchi) of Xenophon; also called
(Strabo xv.) "Kardakis, from a Persian word signifying
manliness," which would be "Kardak"=a doer (of derring do). They
also named the Montes Gordaei the original Ararat of Xisisthrus-
Noah's Ark. The Kurds are of Persian race, speaking an old and
barbarous Iranian tongue and often of the Shi'ah sect. They are
born bandits, highwaymen, cattle-lifters; yet they have spread
extensively over Syria and Egypt and have produced some glorious
men, witness Sultan Salah al-Din (Saladin) the Great. They claim
affinity with the English in the East, because both races always
inhabit the highest grounds they can find.

[FN#115] These irregular bands who belong to no tribe are the
most dangerous bandits in Arabia, especially upon the northern
frontier. Burckhardt, who suffered from them, gives a long
account of their treachery and utter absence of that Arab
"pundonor" which is supposed to characterise Arab thieves.

[FN#116] An euphemistic form to avoid mentioning the incestuous
marriage.

[FN#117] The Arab form of our "Kinchin lay."

[FN#118] These are the signs of a Shaykh's tent.

[FN#119] These questions, indiscreet in Europe, are the rule
throughout Arabia, as they were in the United States of the last
generation.

[FN#120] Arab. "Khizab" a paste of quicklime and lamp-black
kneaded with linseed oil which turns the Henna to a dark olive.
It is hideously ugly to unaccustomed eyes and held to be
remarkably beautiful in Egypt.

[FN#121] i.e. the God of the Empyrean.

[FN#122] A blow worthy of the Sa'alabah tribe to which he
belonged.

[FN#123] i.e. "benefits"; also the name of Mohammed's Mu'ezzin,
or crier to prayer, who is buried outside the Jabiah gate of
Damascus. Hence amongst Moslems, Abyssinians were preferred as
mosque-criers in the early ages of Al-Islam. Egypt chose blind
men because they were abundant and cheap; moreover they cannot
take note of what is doing on the adjoining roof terraces where
women and children love to pass the cool hours that begin and end
the day. Stories are told of men who counterfeited blindness for
years in order to keep the employment. In Moslem cities the
stranger required to be careful how he appeared at a window or on
the gallery of a minaret: the people hate to be overlooked and
the whizzing of a bullet was the warning to be off. (Pilgrimage
iii. 185.)

[FN#124] His instinct probably told him that this opponent was a
low fellow but such insults are common when "renowning it."

[FN#125] Arab. "Dare' " or "Dira'," a habergeon, a coat of ring-
mail, sometimes worn in pairs. During the wretched "Sudan"
campaigns much naive astonishment was expressed by the English
Press to hear of warriors armed cap-a-pie in this armour like
medieval knights. They did not know that every great tribe has
preserved, possibly from Crusading times, a number of hauberks,
even to hundreds. I have heard of only one English traveller who
had a mail jacket made by Wilkinson of Pall Mall, imitating in
this point Napoleon III. And (according to the Banker-poet,
Rogers) the Duke of Wellington. That of Napoleon is said to have
been made of platinum-wire, the work of a Pole who received his
money and an order to quit Paris. The late Sir Robert Clifton
(they say) tried its value with a Colt after placing it upon one
of his coat-models or mannequins. It is easy to make these
hauberks arrow-proof or sword-proof, even bullet-proof if Arab
gunpowder be used: but against a modern rifle-cone they are worse
than worthless as the fragments would be carried into the wound.
The British serjeant was right in saying that he would prefer to
enter battle in his shirt: and he might even doff that to
advantage and return to the primitive custom of man--gymnomachy.

[FN#126] Arab. "Jamal" (by Badawin pronounced "Gamal" like the
Hebrew) is the generic term for "Camel" through the Gr. æ :
"Ibl" is also the camel-species but not so commonly used. "Hajin"
is the dromedary (in Egypt, "Dalul" in Arabia), not the one-
humped camel of the zoologist (C. dromedarius) as opposed to the
two-humped (C. Bactrianus), but a running i.e. a riding camel.
The feminine is Nakah for like mules females are preferred.
"Bakr" (masc.) and "Bakrah" (fem.) are camel-colts. There are
hosts of special names besides those which are general. Mr.
Censor is singular when he states (p.40) "the male (of the camel)
is much the safer animal to choose ;" and the custom of t e
universal Ease disproves his assertion. Mr. McCoan ("Egypt as it
is") tells his readers that the Egyptian camel has two humps, in
fact, he describes the camel as it is not.

[FN#127] So, in the Romance of Dalhamah (Zat al-Himmah, the
heroine the hero Al-Gundubah ("one locust-man") smites off the
head of his mother's servile murderer and cries, I have taken my
blood-revenge upon this traitor slave'" (Lane, M. E. chaps. xx
iii.)

[FN#128] This gathering all the persons upon the stage before the
curtain drops is highly artistic and improbable.

[FN#129] He ought to have said his dawn prayers.

[FN#130] Here begins what I hold to be the oldest subject matter
in The Nights, the apologues or fables proper; but I reserve
further remarks for the Terminal Essay. Lane has most
objectionably thrown this and sundry of the following stories
into a note (vol. ii., pp. 53-69).

[FN#131] In beast stories generally when man appears he shows to
disadvantage.

[FN#132] Shakespeare's "stone bow" not Lane's "cross-bow" (ii.
53).

[FN#133] The goad still used by the rascally Egyptian donkey-boy
is a sharp nail at the end of a stick; and claims the special
attention of societies for the protection of animals.

[FN#134] "The most ungrateful of all voices surely is the voice
of asses" (Koran xxxi. 18); and hence the "braying of hell"
(Koran Ixvii.7). The vulgar still believe that the donkey brays
when seeing the Devil. "The last animal which entered the Ark
with Noah was the Ass to whose tail Iblis was clinging. At the
threshold the ass seemed troubled and could enter no further when
Noah said to him:--"Fie upon thee! come in." But as the ass was
still troubled and did not advance Noah cried:--"Come in, though
the Devil be with thee!", so the ass entered and with him Iblis.
Thereupon Noah asked:--"O enemy of Allah who brought thee into
the Ark ?", and Iblis answered:--"Thou art the man, for thou
saidest to the ass, 'come in though the Devil be with thee!"
(Kitab al-Unwan fi Makaid al-Niswan quoted by Lane ii. 54).

[FN#135] Arab. "Rihl," a wooden saddle stuffed with straw and
matting. In Europe the ass might complain that his latter end is
the sausage. In England they say no man sees a dead donkey: I
have seen dozens and, unfortunately, my own.

[FN#136] The English reader will not forget Sterne's old mare.
Even Al-Hariri, the prince of Arab rhetoricians, does not distain
to use "pepedit," the effect being put for the cause--terror. But
Mr. Preston (p. 285) and polite men translate by "fled in haste"
the Arabic farted for fear."

[FN#137] This is one of the lucky signs and adds to the value of
the beast. There are some fifty of these marks, some of them
(like a spiral of hair in the breast which denotes that the rider
is a cuckold) so ill-omened that the animal can be bought for
almost nothing. Of course great attention is paid to colours, the
best being the dark rich bay ("red" of Arabs) with black points,
or the flea-bitten grey (termed Azrak=blue or Akhzar=green) which
whitens with age. The worst are dun, cream coloured, piebald and
black, which last are very rare. Yet according to the Mishkat al-
Masabih (Lane 2, 54) Mohammed said, 'The best horses are black
(dark brown?) with white blazes (Arab. "Ghurrah") and upper lips;
next, black with blaze and three white legs (bad, because white-
hoofs are brittle):next, bay with white blaze and white fore and
hind legs." He also said, "Prosperity is with sorrel horses;" and
praised a sorrel with white forehead and legs; but he dispraised
the "Shikal," which has white stockings (Arab. "Muhajjil") on
alternate hoofs (e.g. right hind and left fore). The curious
reader will consult Lady Anne Blunt's "Bedouin Tribes of the
Euphrates, with some Account of the Arabs and their Horses"
(1879); but he must remember that it treats of the frontier
tribes. The late Major Upton also left a book "Gleanings from the
Desert of Arabia" (1881); but it is a marvellous production
deriving e.g. Khayl (a horse generically) from Kohl or antimony
(p. 275). What the Editor was dreaming of I cannot imagine. I
have given some details concerning the Arab horse especially in
Al-Yaman, among the Zu Mohammed, the Zu Husayn and the Banu Yam
in Pilgrimage iii. 270. As late as Marco Polo's day they supplied
the Indian market via Aden; but the "Eye o Al-Yaman" has totally
lost the habit of exporting horses.

[FN#138] The shovel-iron which is the only form of spur.

[FN#139] Used for the dromedary: the baggage-camel is haltered.

[FN#140] Arab. "Harwalah," the pas gymnastique affected when
circumambulating the Ka'abah (Pilgrimage iii. 208).

[FN#141] "This night" would be our "last night": the Arabs, I
repeat, say "night and day," not "day and night."

[FN#142] The vulgar belief is that man's fate is written upon his
skull, the sutures being the writing.

[FN#143] Koran ii. 191.

[FN#144] Arab. "Tasbih"=saying, "Subhan' Allah." It also means a
rosary (Egypt. Sebhah for Subhah) a string of 99 beads divided by
a longer item into sets of three and much fingered by the would-
appear pious. The professional devotee carries a string of wooden
balls the size of pigeons' eggs.

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