The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4

R >> Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4

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[FN#359] Koran iii. 103; the other faces become black. This
explains I have noticed the use of the phrases in blessing and
cursing.

[FN#360] Here we have the naked legend of the negro's origin, one
of those nursery tales in which the ignorant of Christendom still
believe But the deduction from the fable and the testimony to the
negro's lack of intelligence, though unpleasant to our ignorant
negrophils, are factual-and satisfactory.

[FN#361] Koran, xcii. 1, 2: an oath of Allah to reward and punish
with Heaven and Hell.

[FN#362] Alluding to the "black drop" in the heart: it was taken
from Mohammed's by the Archangel Gabriel. The fable seems to have
arisen from the verse ' Have we not opened thy breast?" (Koran,
chaps. xciv. 1). The popular tale is that Halimah, the Badawi nurse
of Mohammed, of the Banu Sa'ad tribe, once saw her son, also a
child, running towards her and asked him what was the matter. He
answered, 'My little brother was seized by two men in white who
stretched him on the ground and opened his bellyl" For a full
account and deductions see the Rev. Mr. Badger's article,
"Muhammed" (p. 959) in vol. in. "Dictionary of Christian
Biography."

[FN#363] Arab. "Sumr," lit. brown (as it is afterwards used), but
politely applied to a negro: "Ya Abu Sumrah!" O father of
brownness.

[FN#364] Arab. 'Luma"=dark hue of the inner lips admired by the
Arabs and to us suggesting most umpleasant ideas. Mr. Chenery
renders it "dark red,' and "ruddy" altogether missing the idea.

[FN#365] Arab. "Sauda," feminine of aswad (black), and meaning
black bile (melancholia) as opposed to leucocholia,

[FN#366] i.e. the Magians, Sabians, Zoroastrians.

[FN#367] The "Unguinum fulgor" of the Latins who did not forget to
celebrate the shining of the nails although they did not Henna them
like Easterns. Some, however, have suggested that
alludes to colouring matter.

[FN#368] Women with white skins are supposed to be heating and
unwholesome: hence the Hindu Rajahs slept with dark girls in the
hot season.

[FN#369] Moslems sensibly have a cold as well as a hot Hell, the
former called Zamharir (lit. "intense cold")or AI-Barahut, after a
well in Hazramaut; as Gehenna (Arab. "Jahannam") from the
furnace-like ravine East of Jerusalem (Night cccxxv.). The icy Hell
is necessary in terrorem for peoples who inhabit cold regions and
who in a hot Hell only look forward to an eternity of "coals and
candles" gratis. The sensible missionaries preached it in Iceland
till foolishly forbidden by Papal-Bull.

[FN#370] Koran ii. 26; speaking of Abraham when he entertained the
angels unawares.

[FN#371] Arab. "Rakb," usually applied to a fast-going caravan of
dromedary riders (Pilgrimage ii. 329). The "Cafilah" is Arab.:
"Caravan" is a corruption of the Pers. "Karwan."

[FN#372] A popular saying. It is interesting to contrast this
dispute between fat and thin with the Shakespearean humour of
Falstaff and Prince Henry.

[FN#373] Arab. "Dalak" vulg. Hajar al-Hammam (Hammam-stone). The
comparison is very apt: the rasps are of baked clay artificially
roughened (see illustrations in Lane M. E. chaps. xvi.). The rope
is called "Masad," a bristling line of palm-fibre like the coir now
familiarly known in England.

[FN#374] Although the Arab's ideal-of beauty, as has been seen and
said, corresponds with ours the Egyptians (Modern) the Maroccans
and other negrofied races like "walking tun-butts" as Clapperton
called his amorous widow.

[FN#375] Arab. "Khayzar" or "Khayzaran" the rattan-palm. Those who
have seen this most graceful "palmijuncus" in its native forest
will recognize the neatness of the simile.

[FN#376] This is the popular idea of a bushy "veil of nature" in
women: it is always removed by depilatories and vellication. When
Bilkis Queen of Sheba discovered her legs by lifting her robe
(Koran xxvii.), Solomon was minded to marry her, but would not do
so till the devils had by a depilatory removed the hair. The
popular preparation (called Nurah) consists of quicklime 7 parts,
and Zirnik or orpiment, 3 parts: it is applied in the Hammam to a
perspiring skin, and it must be washed off immediately the hair is
loosened or it burns and discolours. The rest of the body-pile
(Sha'arat opp. to Sha'ar=hair) is eradicated by applying a mixture
of boiled honey with turpentine or other gum, and rolling it with
the hand till the hair comes off. Men I have said remove the pubes
by shaving, and pluck the hair of the arm-pits, one of the vestiges
of pre-Adamite man. A good depilatory is still a desideratum, the
best perfumers of London and Paris have none which they can
recommend. The reason is plain: the hair bulb can be eradicated
only by destroying the skin.

[FN#377] Koran, ii. 64: referring to the heifer which the Jews
were ordered to sacrifice,

[FN#378] Arab. "kalla," a Koranic term possibly from Kull (all)
and la (not) =prorsus non-altogether not!

[FN#379] "Habab" or "Haba," the fine particles of dust, which we
call motes. The Cossid (Arab. "Kasid") is the Anglo-Indian term for
a running courier (mostly under Government), the Persian "Shatir"
and the Guebre Ravand.

[FN#380] Arab. "Sambari" a very long thin lance so called after
Samhar, the maker, or the place of making. See vol. ii. p. 1. It is
supposed to cast, when planted in the ground, a longer shadow in
proportion to its height, than any other thing of the kind.

[FN#381] Arab. "Sulafah ;" properly prisane which flows from the
grapes before pressure. The plur. "Sawalif" also means tresses of
hair and past events: thus there is a "triple entendre." And again
"he" is used for "she."

[FN#382] There is a pun in the last line, "Khalun (a mole)
khallauni" (rid me), etc.

[FN#383] Of old Fustat, afterwards part of Southern Cairo, a
proverbially miserable quarter hence the saying, "They quoted Misr
to Kahirah (Cairo), whereon Bab al-Luk rose with its grass," in
derision of nobodies who push themselves forward. Burckhardt, Prov.
276.

[FN#384] Its fruits are the heads of devils; a true Dantesque
fancy. Koran, chaps. xvii. 62, "the tree cursed in the Koran" and
in chaps. xxxvii., 60, "is this better entertainment, or the tree
of Al-Zakkum?" Commentators say that it is a thorn bearing a bitter
almond which grows in the Tehamah and was therefore promoted to
Hell.

[FN#385] Arab. "Lasm" (lathm) as opposed to Bausah or boseh (a
buss) and Kublah (a kiss,

[FN#386] Arab. "Jufun" (plur. of Jafn) which may mean eyebrows or
eyelashes and only the context can determine which.
[FN#387] Very characteristic of Egyptian manners is the man who
loves six girls equally well, who lends them, as it were, to the
Caliph; and who takes back the goods as if in no wise damaged by
the loan.

[FN#388] The moon is masculine possibly by connection with the
Assyrian Lune-god "Sin"; but I can find no cause for the Sun
(Shams) being feminine.

[FN#389] Arab. "Al-Amin," a title of the Prophet. It is usually
held that this proud name "The honest man," was applied by his
fellow-citizens to Mohammed in early life; and that in his
twenty-fifth year, when the Eighth Ka'abah was being built, it
induced the tribes to make him their umpire concerning the
distinction of placing in position the "Black Stone" which Gabriel
had brought from Heaven to be set up as the starting-post for the
seven circuitings. He distributed the honour amongst the clans and
thus gave universal satisfaction. His Christian biographers mostly
omit to record an anecdote which speaks so highly in Mohammed's
favour. (Pilgrimage iii. 192.)

[FN#390] The idea is that Abu Nowas was a thought-reader such
being the prerogative of inspired poets in the East. His
drunkenness and debauchery only added to his power. I have already
noticed that "Allah strike thee dead" (Katala-k Allah) is like our
phrase "Confound the fellow, how clever he is."

[FN#391] Again said facetiously, "Devil take you!"

[FN#392] In all hot-damp countries it is necessary to clothe dogs,
morning and evening especially: otherwise they soon die of
rheumatism and loin disease.

[FN#393] =Beatrice. A fragment of these lines is in Night cccxv.
See also Night dcclxxxi.

[FN#394] The Moslems borrowed the horrible idea of a "jealous God"
from their kinsmen, the Jews. Every race creates its own Deity
after the fashion of itself: Jehovah is distinctly a Hebrew, the
Christian Theos is originally a Judaeo-Greek and Allah a
half-Badawi Arab. In this tale Allah, despotic and unjust, brings
a generous and noble-minded man to beggary, simply because he fed
his dogs off gold plate. Wisdom and morality have their infancy and
youth: the great value of such tales as these is to show and enable
us to measure man's development.

[FN#395] In Trebutien (Lane ii. 501) the merchant says to
ex-Dives, "Thou art wrong in charging Destiny with injustice. If
thou art ignorant of the cause of thy ruin I will acquaint thee
with it. Thou feddest the dogs in dishes of gold and leftest the
poor to die of hunger." A superstition, but intelligible.

[FN#396] Arab. "Sarraf" = a money changer.

[FN#397] Arab. "Birkah," a common feature in the landscapes of
Lower Egypt: it is either a natural-pool left by the overflow of
the Nile; or, as in the text, a built-up tank, like the "Talab" for
which India is famous. Sundry of these Birkahs are or were in Cairo
itself; and some are mentioned in The Nights.

[FN#398] This sneer at the "military" and the "police" might come
from an English convict's lips.

[FN#399] Lit. "The conquering King;" a dynastic title assumed by
Salah al-Din (Saladin) and sundry of the Ayyubi (Eyoubite)
sovereigns of Egypt, whom I would call the "Soldans."

[FN#400] "Kahirah" (i.e. City of Mars the Planet) is our Cairo:
Bulak is the port suburb on the Nile, till 1858 wholly disjoined
from the City; and Fostat is the outlier popularly called Old
Cairo. The latter term is generally translated "town of leathern
tents;" but in Arabic "fustat" is an abode of Sha'ar=hair, such as
horse-hair, in fact any hair but "Wabar"=soft hair, as the camel's.
See Lane, Lex.

[FN#401] Arab. "Adl"=just: a legal-witness to whose character
there is no tangible objection a prime consideration in Moslem law.
Here "Adl" is evidently used ironically for a hypocritical-rascal

[FN#402] Lane (ii. 503) considers three thousand dinars (the
figure in the Bres. Edit.) "a more probable sum." Possibly: but, I
repeat, exaggeration is one of the many characteristics of The
Nights.

[FN#403] Calc. Edit. "Kazir:" the word is generally written
"Kazdir," Sansk. Kastira, born probably from the Greek .

[FN#404] This would have passed for a peccadillo in the "good old
days." As late as 1840 the Arnaut soldiers used to "pot" any
peasant who dared to ride (instead of walking) past their barracks.
Life is cheap in hot countries.

[FN#405] Koran, xii. 46 -- a passage expounding the doctrine of
free will: "He who doth right doth it to the advantage of his own
soul; and he who doth evil, doth it against the same; for thy
Lord," etc.

[FN#406] Arab. "Suffah"; whence our Sofa. In Egypt it is a raised
shelf generally of stone, about four feet high and headed with one
or more arches. It is an elaborate variety of the simple "Tak" or
niche, a mere hollow in the thickness of the wall. Both are used
for such articles as basin. ewer and soap; coffee cups, water
bottles etc.

[FN#407] In Upper Egypt (Apollinopolis Parva) pronounced "Goos,"
the Coptic Kos-Birbir, once an emporium of the Arabian trade.

[FN#408] This would appeal strongly to a pious Moslem.

[FN#409] i.e. "the father of a certain person"; here the merchant
whose name may have been Abu'l Hasan, etc. The useful word
(thingumbob, what d'ye call him, donchah, etc.) has been bodily
transferred into Spanish and Portuguese Fulano. It is of old
genealogy, found in the Heb. Fuluni which applies to a person only
in Ruth iv. I, but is constantly so employed by Rabbinic writers.
The Greek use {Greek Letters}.

[FN#410] Lit. "by his (i.e. her) hand," etc. Hence Lane (ii. 507)
makes nonsense of the line.

[FN#411] Arab. "Badrah," as has been said, is properly a weight of
10,000 dirhams or drachmas; but popularly used for largesse thrown
to the people at festivals.

[FN#412] Arab. "Allaho A'alam"; (God knows!) here the popular
phrase for our, "I know not;" when it would be rude to say bluntly
"M'adri"= "don't know."

[FN#413] There is a picturesque Moslem idea that good deeds become
incarnate and assume human shapes to cheer the doer in his grave,
to greet him when he enters Paradise and so forth. It was borrowed
from the highly imaginative faith of the Guebre, the Zoroastrian.
On Chinavad or Chanyud-pul (Sirat), the Judgement bridge, 37 rods
(rasan) long, straight and 37 fathoms broad for the good, and
crooked and narrow as sword-edge for the bad, a nymph-like form
will appear to the virtuous and say, "I am the personification of
thy good deeds!" In Hell there will issue from a fetid gale a
gloomy figure with head like a minaret, red eyeballs, hooked nose,
teeth like pillars, spear-like fangs, snaky locks etc. and when
asked who he is he will reply, "I am the personification of thine
evil acts!" (Dabistan i. 285.) The Hindus also personify
everything.

[FN#414] Arab. "Banu Israil;" applied to the Jews when theirs was
the True Faith i.e. before the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, whose
mission completed that of Moses and made it obsolete (Matruk) even
as the mission of Jesus was completed and abrogated by that of
Mohammed. The term "Yahud"=Jew is applied scornfully to the Chosen
People after they rejected the Messiah, but as I have said
"Israelite" is used on certain occasions, Jew on others.

[FN#415] Arab. "Kasa'ah," a wooden bowl, a porringer; also applied
to a saucer.

[FN#416] Arab. "Rasul"=one sent, an angel, an "apostle;" not to be
translated, as by the vulgar, "prophet." Moreover Rasul is higher
than Nabi (prophet), such as Abraham, Isaac, etc., depositaries of
Al-Islam, but with a succession restricted to their own families.
Nabi-mursil (Prophet-apostle) is the highest of all, one sent with
a book: of these are now only four, Moses, David, Jesus and
Mohammed, the writings of the rest having perished. In Al-Islam
also angels rank below men, being only intermediaries (= ,
nuncii, messengers) between the Creator and the Created. This
knowledge once did me a good turn at Harar, not a safe place in
those days. (First Footsteps in East Africa, p. 349.)

[FN#417] A doctor of law in the reign of Al-Maamun.

[FN#418] Here the exclamation is= D.V.; and it may be assumed
generally to have that sense.

[FN#419] Arab. "Taylasan," a turban worn hood-fashion by the
"Khatib" or preacher. I have sketched it in my Pilgrimage and
described it (iii. 315). Some Orientalists derive Taylasan from
Atlas=satin, which is peculiarly inappropriate. The word is
apparently barbarous and possibly Persian like Kalansuwah, the
Dervish cap. "Thou son of a Taylasan"=a barbarian. (De Sacy,
Chrest. Arab. ii. 269.)

[FN#420] Arab. " Kinyah" vulg. "Kunyat" = patronymic or
matronymic; a name beginning with "Abu" (father) or with "Umm"
(mother). There are so few proper names in Al-Islam that such
surnames, which, as will be seen, are of infinite variety, become
necessary to distinguish individuals. Of these sobriquets I shall
give specimens further on.

[FN#421] "Whoso seeth me in his sleep, seeth me truly; for Satan
cannot assume my semblance," said (or is said to have said)
Mohammed. Hence the vision is true although it comes in early night
and not before dawn. See Lane M. E., chaps. ix.

[FN#422] Arab. "Al-Maukab ;" the day when the pilgrims march out
of the city; it is a holiday for all, high and low.

[FN#423] "The Gate of Salutation ;" at the South-Western corner of
the Mosque where Mohammed is buried. (Pilgrimage ii. 60 and plan.)
Here "Visitation" (Ziyarah) begins.

[FN#424] The tale is told by Al-Ishaki in the reign of Al-Maamun.

[FN#425] The speaker in dreams is the Heb. "Waggid," which the
learned and angry Graetz (Geschichte, etc. vol. ix.) absurdly
translates "Traum souffleur."

[FN#426] Tenth Abbaside. A.D. 849-861

[FN#427] Arab. "Muwallad" (fem. "Muwalladah"); a rearling, a slave
born in a Moslem land. The numbers may appear exaggerated, but even
the petty King of Ashanti had, till the last war, 3333 "wives."

[FN#428] The Under-prefect of Baghdad.

[FN#429] "Ja'afar," our old Giaffar (which is painfully like
"Gaffer," i.e. good father) means either a rushing river or a
rivulet.

[FN#430] A regular Fellah's name also that of a village
(Pilgrimage i. 43) where a pleasant story is told about one Haykal.

[FN#431] The "Mountain" means the rocky and uncultivated ground
South of Cairo, such as Jabal-al-Ahmar and the geological-sea-coast
flanked by the old Cairo-Suez highway.

[FN#432] A popular phrase=our "sharp as a razor."

[FN#433] i.e. are men so few; a favourite Persian phrase.

[FN#434] She is a woman of rank who would cause him to be
assassinated.

[FN#435] This is not Al-Hakimbi' Amri'llah the famous or infamous
founder of the Druze ((Duruz)) faith and held by them to be, not an
incarnation of the Godhead, but the Godhead itself in propria
persona, who reigned A.D. 926-1021: our Hakim is the orthodox
Abbaside Caliph of Egypt who dated from two centuries after him
(A.D. 1261). Had the former been meant, it would have thrown back
this part of The Nights to an earlier date than is generally
accepted. But in a place still to come I shall again treat of the
subject.

[FN#436] For an account of a similar kind which was told to me
during the last few years see "Midian Revisited," i. 15. These
hiding-places are innumerable in lands of venerable antiquity like
Egypt; and, if there were any contrivance for detecting hidden
treasure, it would make the discoverer many times a millionaire.

[FN#437] i.e. it had been given to him or his in writing, like the
book left to the old woman before quoted in "Midian," etc.

[FN#438] Arab. "Kird" (pron. in Egypt "Gird"). It is usually the
hideous Abyssinian cynocephalus which is tamed by the ape-leader
popularly called Kuraydati (Lane, M.E., chaps. xx.). The beast has
a natural-penchant for women ; I heard of one which attempted to
rape a girl in the public street and was prevented only by a
sentinel's bayonet. They are powerful animals and bite like
greyhounds.

[FN#439] Easterns attribute many complaints (such as toothache) to
worms, visible as well as microscopic, which may be held a fair
prolepsis of the "germ-theory" the bacterium. the bacillus, the
microbe. Nymphomania, the disease alluded to in these two tales is
always attributed to worms in the vagina.

[FN#440] Bestiality, very rare in Arabia is fatally common amongst
those most debauched of debauched races, the Egyptian proper and
the Sindis. Hence the Pentateuch, whose object was to breed a
larger population of fighting men, made death the penalty for lying
with a beast (Deut. xxvii. 21). C. S. Sonnini (Travels, English
translation, p. 663) gives a curious account of Fellah lewdness.
"The female crocodile during congress is turned upon her back ( ?)
and cannot rise without difficulty. Will it be believed that there
are men who take advantage of the helpless situation of the female,
drive off the male, and supplant him in this frightful intercourse
? Horrible embraces, the knowledge of which was wanting to complete
the disgusting history of human perversity!" The French traveller
forgets to add the superstitious explanation of this congress which
is the sovereignest charm for rising to rank and riches. The Ajaib
al-Hind tells a tale (chaps. xxxix.) of a certain Mohammed bin
Bullishad who had issue by a she-ape: the young ones were hairless
of body and wore quasi-human faces; and the father's sight had
become dim by his bestial-practice.

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