第121章
pop.'dug-out'and classically 'monoxyle，'a boat made of a single tree-trunk hollowed by fire and trimmed with axe and adze.Some of these rude craft which，when manned，remind one of saturnine Caliph Omar's 'worms floating on a log of wood，'measure 60 feet long and more.
[234] i.e.A descendant of Mohammed in general-and especially through Husayn Ali-son.Here the text notes that the chief of the bazar was of this now innumerable stock，who inherit the title through the mother as well as through the father.
[235]Arab.'Hasab'（=quaneity），the honour a man acquires for himself； opposed to 'Nasab'（genealogy） honours inherited from ancestry： the Arabic well expresses my old motto （adopted by Chinese Gordon），'Honour，not Honours.'
[236]Note the difference between 'Takaddum'（ = standing in presence of，also superiority in excellence） and 'Takadum'
（priority in time）.
[237]Lane （ii.427） gives a pleasant Eastern illustration of this saying.
[238]A Koranic fancy； the mountains being the pegs which keep the earth in place.'And he hath thrown before the earth，mountains firmly rooted，lest it should move with you.'（Koran，chaps.xvi.）
The earth when first created was smooth and thereby liable to a circular motion，like the celestial-orbs； and，when the Angels asked who could stand on so tottering a frame，Allah fixed it the next morning by throwing the mountains in it and pegging them down.
A fair prolepsis of the Neptunian theory.
[239]Easy enough for an Englishman to avoid saying 'by God，'but this common incident in Moslem folk-lore appeals to the peoples who are constantly using the word Allah Wallah，Billah，etc.The Koran expressly says，'Make not Allah the scope （object，lit.arrow-butt） of your oaths'（chaps.ii.224），yet the command is broken every minute.
[240]This must be the ubiquitous Khizr，the Green Prophet；
when Ali appears，as a rule he is on horseback.
[241]The name is apparently imaginary； and a little below we find that it was close to Jinn land.China was very convenient for this purpose： the medieval-Moslems，who settled in considerable numbers at Canton and elsewhere，knew just enough of it to know their own ignorance of the vast empire.Hence the Druzes of the Libanus still hold that part of their nation is in the depths of the Celestial-Empire.
[242]I am unwilling to alter the old title to 'City of Copper'as it should be； the pure metal having been technologically used long before the alloy of copper and zinc.But the Maroccan City （Night dlxvi.et seq.） was of brass （not copper）.The Hindus of Upper India have an Iram which they call Hari Chand's city （Colonel Tod）； and I need hardly mention the Fata Morgana，Island of Saint Borondon； Cape Fly-away； the Flying Dutchman，etc.etc.，all the effect of 'looming.'
[243]This sword which makes men invisible and which takes place of Siegfried's Tarnkappe （invisible cloak） and of 'Fortunatus'cap'is common in Moslem folk-lore.The idea probably arose from the venerable practice of inscribing the blades with sentences，verses and magic figures.
[244]Arab.''Ukab，'in books an eagle （especially black） and P.N.of constellation but in Pop.usage= a vulture.In Egypt it is the Neophron Percnopterus （Jerdon） or N.Gingianus （Latham），the Dijajat Far'aun or Pharaoh's hen.This bird has been known to kill the Bashah sparrow-hawk （Jerdon i.60）； yet，curious to say，the reviewers of my 'Falconry in the Valley of the Indus'questioned the fact，known to so many travellers，that the falcon is also killed by this 'tiger of the air，'despite the latter's feeble bill （pp.35-38）.I was faring badly at their hands when the late Mr.
Burckhardt Barker came to the rescue.Falconicide is popularly attributed，not only to the vulture，but also to the crestless hawk-eagle （Nisaetus Bonelli） which the Hindus call Moranga=peacock slayer.
[245]Here I translate 'Nahas'=brass，as the 'kumkum'（cucurbite） is made of mixed metal，not of copper.
[246]Mansur al-Nimri，a poet of the time and a protege of Yahya's son，Al-Fazl.
[247]This was at least four times Mansur's debt.
[248]Intendant of the Palace to Harun al-Rashid.The Bres.
Edit.（vii.254） begins They tell that there arose full enmity between Ja'afar Barmecide and a Sahib of Misr'（Wazir or Governor of Egypt）.Lane （ii.429） quotes to this purpose amongst Arab；
historians Fakhr al-Din.（De Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe i.p.26，edit.ii.）
[249]Arab.'Armaniyah'which Egyptians call after their mincing fashion 'Irminiyeh'hence 'Ermine'（Mus Ponticus）.
Armaniyah was much more extensive than our Armenia，now degraded to a mere province of Turkey，and the term is understood to include the whole of the old Parthian Empire.
[250]Even now each Pasha-governor must keep a 'Wakil'in Constantinople to intrigue and bribe for him at head-quarters.
[251]The symbol of generosity，of unasked liberality，the 'black hand'being that of niggardness.
[252]Arab.Rah =pure （and old） wine.Arabs，like our classics，usually drank their wine tempered.So Imr al-Keys in his Mu'allakah says，'Bring the well tempered wine that seems to be saffron-tinctured； and，when water-mixed，o'erbrims the cup.'（v.2.）
[253]There is nothing that Orientals relish more than these 'goody-goody'preachments； but they read and forget them as readily as Westerns.
[254]Lane （ii.435） ill-advisedly writes 'Sher，'as 'the word is evidently Persian signifying a Lion.'But this is only in the debased Indian dialect，a Persian，especially a Shirazi，pronounces 'Shir.'And this is how it is written in the Bresl.Edit.，vii.
262.'Shar'is evidently a fancy name，possibly suggested by the dynastic name of the Ghurjistan or Georgian Princes.
[255]Again old experience，which has learned at a heavy cost how many a goodly apple is rotten at the core.
[256]This couplet has occurred in Night xxi.I give Torrens （p.206） by way of specimen.