第111章

[16]'And he （Jacob） turned from them，and said，'O how I am grieved for Joseph' And his eyes became white with mourning....

（Quoth Joseph to his brethren），'Take this my inner garment and throw it on my father's face and he shall recover his sight.' ..

So，when the messenger of good tidings came （to Jacob） he threw it （the shirt） over his face and he recovered his eye-sight.'

Koran，xii.84，93，96.The commentators，by way of improvement，assure us that the shirt was that worn by Abraham when thrown into the fire （Koran，chaps.xvi.） by Nimrod （！）.We know little concerning 'Jacob's daughters' who named the only bridge spanning the upper Jordan，and who have a curious shrine tomb near Jewish 'Safe' （North of Tiberias），one of the four 'Holy Cities.' The Jews ignore these 'daughters of Jacob' and travellers neglect them.

[17]Easterns，I have remarked，mostly recognise the artistic truth that the animal-man is handsomer than woman and that 'fair sex' is truly only of skin-colour.The same is the general-rule throughout creation，for instance the stallion compared with the mare，the cock with the hen； while there are sundry exceptions such as the Falconidae.

[18]The Badawi （who is nothing if not horsey） compares the gait of a woman who walks well （in Europe rarely seen out of Spain） with the slightly swinging walk of a thoroughbred mare，bending her graceful neck and looking from side to side at objects as she passes.

[19]Li'llahi （darr'） al-kail，a characteristic idiom.

'Darr'=giving （rich） milk copiously and the phrase expresses admiration，'To Allah be ascribed （or Allah be praised for） his rich eloquence who said etc.Some Hebraists would render it，'Divinely （well） did he speak who said，' etc.，holding 'Allah' to express a superlative like 'Yah' Jah） in Gen.iv.1； x.9.Nimrod was a hunter to the person （or presence） of Yah，i.e.mighty hunter.

[20]Hamzah and Abbas were the famous uncles of Mohammed often noticed： Ukayl is not known； possibly it may be Akil，a son of the fourth Caliph，Ali.

[21]The Eastern ring is rarely plain； and，its use being that of a signet，it is always in intaglio： the Egyptians invented engraving hieroglyphics on wooden stamps for marking bricks and applied the process to the ring.Moses B.C.1491

（Exod.xxviii.9） took two onyx-stones，and graved on them the names of the children of Israel.From this the signet ring was but a step.Herodotus mentions an emerald seal-set in gold，that of Polycrates，the work of Theodorus，son of Telecles the Samian （iii.141）.The Egyptians also were perfectly acquainted with working in cameo （anaglyph） and rilievo，as may be seen in the cavo rilievo of the finest of their hieroglyphs.The Greeks borrowed from them the cameo and applied it to gems （e.g.

Tryphon's in the Marlborough collection），and they bequeathed the art to the Romans.We read in a modern book 'Cameo means an onyx，and the most famous cameo in the world is the onyx containing the Apotheosis of Augustus.' The ring is given in marriage because it was a seal--by which orders were signed （Gen.xxxviii.18 and Esther iii.10-12）.I may note that the seal-ring of Cheops （Khufu），found in the Greatest Pyramid，was in the possession of my old friend，Doctor Abbott，of Auburn （U.S.），and was sold with his collection.It is the oldest ring in the world，and settles the Cheops-question.

[22]This habit of weeping when friends meet after long parting is customary，I have noted，amongst the American 'Indians，' the Badawin of the New World； they shed tears thinking of the friends they have lost.Like most primitive people they are ever ready to weep as was AEneas or Shakespeare's saline personage，'This would make a man，a man of salt To use his eyes for garden waterpots.'

（King Lear，iv.6.）

[23]Here poetical-justice is not done； in most Arab tales the two adulterous Queens would have been put to death.

[24]Pronounce Aladdin Abush-Shamat.

[25]Arab.'Misr，' vulg.Masr： a close connection of Misraim the 'two Misrs，' Egypt，upper and lower.

[26]The Persians still call their Consuls 'Shah-bander，'

lit.king of the Bandar or port.

[27]Arab.'Dukhul，' the night of going in，of seeing the bride unveiled for the first time，etcaetera.