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第138章

[227] Arab.'Sadda'l-Aktar,'a term picturesque enough to be preserved in English.'Sadd,'I have said,is a wall or dyke,the term applied to the great dam of water- plants which obstructs the navigation of the Upper Nile,the lilies and other growths floating with the current from the (Victoria) Nyanza Lake. I may note that we need no longer derive from India the lotus-llily so extensively used by the Ancient Egyptians and so neglected by the moderns that it has well nigh disappeared. All the Central African basins abound in the Nymphaea and thence it found its way down the Nile Valley.

[228] Arab.'Al Marhumah': equivalent to our'late lamented.'

[229] Vulgarly pronounced'Mahmal,'and by Egyptians and Turks'Mehmel.'Lane (M. E. xxiv.) has figured this queenly litter and I have sketched and described it in my Pilgrimage (iii. 12).

[230] For such fits of religious enthusiasm see my Pilgrimage (iii. 254).

[231]'Irak'(Mesopotamia) means'a level country beside the banks of a ever.'

[232]'Al Kuds,'or'Bays al-Mukaddas,'is still the popular name of Jerusalem,from the Heb. Yerushalaim ha-Kadushah (legend on shekel of Simon Maccabeus).

[233]'Follow the religion of Abraham'says the Koran (chaps.iii. 89). Abraham,titled'Khalilu'llah,'ranks next in dignity to Mohammed,preceding Isa,I need hardly say that his tomb is not in Jerusalem nor is the tomb itself at Hebron ever visited. Here Moslems (soi disant) are allowed by the jealousies of Europe to close and conceal a place which belongs to the world,especially to Jews and Christians. The tombs,if they exist,lie in a vault or cave under the Mosque.

[234] Aba,or Abayah,vulg. Abayah,is a cloak of hair,goat's or camel's;too well known to require deion.

[235] Arab.'Al-Wakkad,'the man who lights and keeps up the bath-fires.

[236] Arab.'Ma al-Khalaf'(or'Khilaf') a sickly perfume but much prized,made from the flowers of the Salix Aegyptiaca.

[237] Used by way of soap;like glasswort and other plants.

[238] i.e.,'Thou art only just recovered.'

[239] To'Nakh'is to gurgle'Ikh! Ikh!'till the camel kneels.

Hence the space called'Barr al-Manakhah'in Al-Medinah (Pilgrimage i. 222,ii. 91). There is a regular camel vocabulary amongst the Arabs,made up like our'Gee'(go ye!),etc. of significant words worn down.

[240] Arab.'Laza,'the Second Hell provided for Jews.

[241] The word has been explained (vol. i. 112).[see Volume 1,note 199] It is trivial,not occurring in the Koran which uses'Arabs of the Desert ;''Arabs who dwell in tents,'etc. (chaps.ix. and xxxiii.).'A'arabi'is the classical word and the origin of'Arab'is disputed. According to Pocock (Notae Spec. Hist. Arab.):

'Diverse are the opinions concerning the denomination of the Arabs;but the most certain of all is that which draws it from Arabah,which is part of the region of Tehama (belonging to Al-Medinah Pilgrimage ii. 118),which their father Ismail afterwards inhabited.'Tehamah (sierra caliente) is the maritime region of Al Hijaz,the Moslems Holy Land;and its'Arabah,'a very small tract which named a very large tract,must not be confounded,as some have done,with the Wady Arabah,the ancient outlet of the Dead Sea. The derivation of'Arab'from'Ya'arab'a fancied son of Joktan is mythological. In Heb. Arabia may be called'Eretz Ereb'(or'Arab')=land of the West;but in Arabic'Gharb'(not Ereb) is the Occident and the Arab dates long before the Hebrew.

[242]'When thine enemy extends his hand to thee,cut it off if thou can,or kiss it,'wisely said Caliph al-Mansur.

[243] The Tartur was a peculiar turban worn by the Northern Arabs and shown in old prints. In modern Egypt the term is applied to the tall sugar-loaf caps of felt affected mostly by regular Dervishes. Burckhardt (Proverbs 194 and 398) makes it the high cap of felt or fur proper to the irregular cavalry called Dely or Delaty. In Dar For (Darfour)'Tartur'is a conical cap adorned with beads and cowries worn by the Manghwah or buffoon who corresponds with the Egyptian'Khalbus'or'Maskharah'and the Turkish'Sutari.'For an illustration see Plate iv. fig. 10 of Voyage au Darfour par Mohammed El Tounsy (The Tunisian),Paris,Duprat,1845.

[244] The term is picturesque and true;we say'gnaw,'which is not so good.

[245] Here,meaning an Elder,a Chief,etc.;the word has been almost naturalised in English. I have noted that Abraham was the first'Shaykh.'

[246] This mention of weighing suggests the dust of Dean Swift and the money of the Gold Coast It was done,I have said,because the gold coin,besides being'sweated'was soft and was soon worn down.

[247] Fem. of Naji (a deliverer,a saviour)=Salvadora.

[248] This,I have noted,is according to Koranic command (chaps. iv. 88).'When you are saluted with a salutation,salute the person with a better salutation.'The longer answer to'Peace be with (or upon) thee!'is still universally the custom. The'Salem'is so differently pronounced by every Eastern nation that the observant traveller will easily make of it a Shibboleth.

[249] The Badawi,who was fool as well as rogue,begins to fear that he has kidnapped a girl of family.

[250] These examinations being very indecent are usually done in strictest privacy. The great point is to make sure of virginity.

[251] This is according to strict Moslem law: the purchaser may not look at the girl's nakedness till she is his,and he ought to manage matters through an old woman.

[252] Lit. wrath;affliction which chokes;in Hindustani it means simply anger.

[253] i.e. Heaven forbid I be touched by a strange man.

[254] Used for fuel and other purposes,such as making'doss stick.'

[255] Arab'Yaftah'Allah'the offer being insufficient. The rascal is greedy as a Badaw and moreover he is a liar,which the Badawi is not.

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