第143章

[373] Arab. 'Rival al-Ghayb，'somewhat like the 'Himalayan Brothers'of modern superstition. See Herklots （Qanoon-e-Islam） for a long and careful deion of these 'Mardan-i-Ghayb'（Pers.），a 'class of people mounted on clouds，'invisible，but moving in a circular orbit round the world，and suggesting the Hindu 'Lokapalas.'They should not be in front of the traveller nor on his right，but either behind or on his left hand. Hence tables，memorial couplets and hemistichs are required to ascertain the station，without which precaution journeys are apt to end badly.

[374] A sweetmeat before noticed.

[375] Door hinges in the east are two projections for the top and bottom of the leaf playing in hollows of the lintel and threshold. It appears to be the primitive form，for we find it in the very heart of Africa. In the basaltic cities of the Hauran，where the doors are of thick stone，they move easily on these pins.

I found them also in the official （not the temple）City of Palmyra，but all broken.

[376] The effect of the poison and of the incantation which accompanied it.

[377] King Omar who had ****d her. My sympathies are all with the old woman who nightly punished the royal lecher.

[378] Arab. 'Zunnar，'the Gr. {Greek letters}. Christians and Jews were compelled by the fanatical sumptuary laws of the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil （AD. 856） to wear a broad leather belt in public，hence it became a badge of the Faith. Probably it was confounded with the 'Janeo'（Brahmanical thread） and the Parsi sacred girdle called Kashti. （Dabistan i，297，etc.）. Both Mandeville and La Brocquiere speak of 'Christians of the Girdle，because they are all girt above，'intending Jacobites or Nestorians.

[379] 'Silah dar'（Arab. and Pers.）=a military officer of high rank；literally an 'armour-bearer，'chosen for velour and trustworthiness. So Jonathan had a 'young man'（brave） who bare his armour （I Sam. xiv. 1，6 and 7）；and Goliath had a man that bare the shield before him （ibid. xvii. 7，41）. Men will not readily forget the name of Sulayman Agha，called the Silahdar，in Egypt.（Lane M. E. chaps. iv.）

[380] It will be told afterwards.

[381] The elder brother thus showed himself a vassal and proved himself a good Moslem by not having recourse to civil war.

[382] Arab. 'Ghazwah，'the corrupt Gallicism，now Europeanised=raid，foray.

[383] Turk in modern parlance means a Turkoman，a pomade：the settled people call themselves Osmanli or Othmanli. Turkoman=Turk-like.

[384] Arab. 'Nimsa；'southern Germans，Austrians；from the Slav.'Nemica'（any Germans），literally meaning 'The dumb'（nemac），because they cannot speak Slav.

[385] Arab. 'Dubara'from the Slav. 'Dubrovnik，'from 'Dub'（an oak） and 'Dubrava'（an oak forest）. Ragusa，once a rival of Venice，gave rise to the word 'Argosy.'D'Herbelot calls it 'Dobravenedik'or 'Good Venice，'the Turkish name，because it paid tribute when Venice would not （？）.

[386] Arab. 'Jawarnah，'or，'Jurnah'evidently Zara，a place of many names，Jadera （Hirtius de Bell. Alex. cap. 13），Jadra，Zadra （whence the modern term），Diadora，Diadosca and Jadrossa. This important Liburnian city sent forth many cruisers in crusading days；hence the Arabs came to know its name.

[387] Arab. 'Banu'l-Asfar；'which may mean 'Pale faces，'in the sense of 'yeller girls'（New Orleans） and that intended by North American Indians，or，possibly，the peoples with yellow （or rather tow-coloured） hair we now call Russians. The races of Hindostan term the English not 'white men，'but 'red men；'and the reason will at once be seen by comparing a Britisher with a high-caste Nagar Brahman whose face is of parchment colour as if he had drunk exsangue cuminum. The Yellow-faces of the text correspond with the Sansk. 'Svetadvipa'--Whiteman's Land.

[388] Arab. 'Al-Musakhkham.'No Moslem believes that Isa was crucified and a favourite fancy is that Judas，changed to the likeness of Jesus，thus paid for his treason. （Evangel. Barnabae.）

Hence the resurrection is called not 'Kiyamah'but 'Kumamah'=rubbish. This heresy about the Cross they share with the Docetes，'certain beasts in the shape of men'（says Ignatius），who held that a phantom was crucified. So far the Moslems are logical，for 'Isa，'being angelically，miraculously and immaculately conceived，could not be；but they contradict themselves when they hold a vacant place near Mohammed's tomb for the body of Isa after his second coming as a forerunner to Mohammed and Doomday.

（Pilgrimage ii. 89.）

[389] A diviner，priest，esp. Jewish，and not belonging to the tribe of Levi.

[390] Again the coarsest word 'Khara.'The allusion is to the vulgar saying，'Thou eatest skite！'（i.e. thou talkest nonsense）.

Decent English writers modify this to，'Thou eatest dirt：'and Lord Beaconsfield made it ridiculous by turning it into 'eating sand.'

[391] These silly scandals，which cause us only to smile，excite Easterns to fury. I have seen a Moslem wild with rage on hearing a Christian parody the opening words of the Koran，'Bismillahi 'l-

Rahmani 'l-Rahim，Mismish wa Kamar al-din，'roughly translated，'In the name of Allah，the Compassionating，the Compassionate！

Apricots and marmalede.'The idea of the Holy Merde might have been suggested by the Hindus：see Mandeville，of the archiprotopapaton （prelate） carrying ox-dung and urine to the King，who therewith anoints his brow and breast，&c. And，incredible to relate，this is still practiced after a fashion by the Parsis，one of the most progressive and the sharpest witted of Asiatic races.

[392] Meaning that he had marked his brow with a cross （of ashes？） as certain do on Ash Wednesday.

[393] Syria，the 'left-hand land'as has before been explained.