第122章

[257]Arab.'Zaka'= merely tasting a thing which may be sweet with a bitter after-flavour [258]This tetraseich was in Night xxx.with a difference.

[259]The lines have occurred in Night xxx.I quote Torrens，p.311.

[260]This tetrastich is in Night clxix.I borrow from Lane （ii.62）.

[261]The rude but effective refrigerator of the desert Arab who hangs his water-skin to the branch of a tree and allows it to swing in the wind.

[262]Arab 'Khumasiyah'which Lane （ii.438） renders 'of quinary stature.'Usually it means five spans，but here five feet，showing that the girl was young and still growing.The invoice with a slave always notes her height in spans measured from ankle-bone to ear and above seven she loses value as being full grown.Hence Sudasi （fem.Sudasiyah） is a slave six spans high，the Shibr or full span （9 inches） not the Fitr or short span from thumb to index.Faut is the interval-between every finger，Ratab between index and medius，and Atab between medius and annularis.

[263]'Moon faced'now sounds sufficiently absurd to us，but it was not always so.Solomon （Cant.vi.10） does not disdain the image 'fair as the moon，clear as the sun，'and those who have seen a moon in the sky of Arabia will thoroughly appreciate it.We find it amongst the Hindus，the Persians，the Afghans，the Turks and all the nations of Europe.We have，finally，the grand example of Spenser，'Her spacious forehead，like the clearest moon，etc.'

[264]Blue eyes have a bad name in Arabia as in India： the witch Zarka of Al-Yamamah was noted for them； and 'blue eyed'often means 'fierce-eyed，'alluding to the Greeks and Daylamites，mortal-enemies to Ishmael.The Arabs say 'ruddy of mustachio，blue of eye and black of heart.'

[265]Before explained as used with camphor to fill the dead man's mouth.

[266]As has been seen，slapping on the neck is equivalent to our 'boxing ears，'but much less barbarous and likely to injure the child.The most insulting blow is that with shoe sandal-or slipper because it brings foot in contact with head.Of this I have spoken before.

[267]Arab.'Hibal'（= ropes） alluding to the A'akal-fillet which binds the Kufiyah-kerchief on the Badawi's head.（Pilgrimage，i.346.）

[268]Arab.'Khiyal'； afterwards called Kara Gyuz （= 'black eyes，'from the celebrated Turkish Wazir）.The mise-en-scene was like that of Punch，but of transparent cloth，lamp lit inside and showing silhouettes worked by hand.Nothing could be more Fescenntne than Kara Gyuz，who appeared with a phallus longer than himself and made all the Consuls-General-periodically complain of its abuse，while the dialogue，mostly in Turkish，as even more obscene.Most ingenious were Kara Gyuz's little ways of driving on an Obstinate donkey and of tackling a huge Anatolian pilgrim.He mounted the Neddy's back face to tail，and inserting his left thumb like a clyster，hammered it with his right when the donkey started at speed.For the huge pilgrim he used a ladder.These shows now obsolete，used to enliven the Ezbekiyah Gardens every evening and explain Ovid's Words，'Delicias videam，Nile jocose，tuas！'

[269]Mohammed （Mishkat al-Masabih ii.360-62） says，'Change the whiteness of your hair but not with anything black.'Abu Bakr，who was two years and some months older than the Prophet，used tincture of Henna and Katam.Old Turkish officers justify black dyes because these make them look younger and fiercer.Henna stains white hair orange red； and the Persians apply after it a paste of indigo leaves，the result is successively leek-green，emerald-green，bottle-green and lastly lamp-black.There is a stage in life （the youth of old age） when man uses dyes： presently he finds that the whole face wants dye； that the contrast between juvenile coloured hair and ancient skin is ridiculous and that it is time to wear white.

[270]This prejudice extends all over the East： the Sanskrit saying is 'Kvachit kana bhaveta sadhus'now and then a monocular is honest.The left eye is the worst and the popular idea is，I have said，that the damage will come by the injured member

[271]The Arabs say like us，'Short and thick is never quick'and 'Long and thin has little in.'

[272]Arab.'Ba'azu layali，'some night when his mistress failed him.

[273]The fountain in Paradise before noticed.

[274]Before noticed as the Moslem St.Peter （as far as the keys go）.

[275]Arab.'Munkasir'= broken，frail，languishing the only form of the maladive allowed.Here again we have masculine for feminine： the eyelids show love-desire，but，etc.

[276]The river of Paradise.

[277]See Night xii.'The Second Kalandar's Tale 'vol.i.113.

[278]Lane （ii.472） refers for specimens of calligraphy to Herbin's 'Developpements，etc.'There are many more than seven styles of writing as I have shown in Night xiii.； vol.i.129.

[279]Amongst good Moslems this would be a claim upon a man.

[280]These lines have occurred twice already： and first appear in Night xxii.I have borrowed from Mr.Payne （iv.46）.

[281]Arab.'Ya Nasrani'，the address is not intrinsically slighting but it may easily be made so.I have elsewhere noted that when Julian （is said to have） exclaimed 'Vicisti Nazarene！'he was probably thinking in Eastern phrase 'Nasarta，ya Nasrani！'

[282]Thirst is the strongest of all pleas to an Eastern，especially to a Persian who never forgets the sufferings of his Imam，Husayn，at Kerbela： he would hardly withhold it from the murderer of his father.There is also a Hadis，'Thou shalt not refuse water to him who thirsteth in the desert.'