[490] Mr. Payne （ii. 227） translates 'Hawa al-'Urzi'by 'the love of the Beni Udhra，an Arabian tribe famous for the passion and devotion with which love was practiced among them.'See Night dclxxxiii. I understand it as 'excusable love'which，for want of a better term，is here translated 'platonic.'It is，however，more like the old 'bundling'of Wales and Northern England；and allows all the pleasures but one，the toyings which the French call les plaisirs de la petite ode；a term my dear old friend Fred. Hankey derived from la petite voie. The Afghans know it as 'Namzad-bazi'or betrothed play （Pilgrimage，ii. 56）；the Abyssinians as eye-love；and the Kafirs as Slambuka a Shlabonka，for which see The traveller Delegorgue.
[491] 'Turk'in Arabic and Persian poetry means a plunderer，a robber. Thus Hafiz：'Agar an Turk-i-Shirazi ba-dast arad dil-i-mara，'If that Shirazi （ah，the Turk！） would deign to take my heart in hand，etc.
[492] Arab. 'Nazir，'a steward or an eye （a 'looker'）. The idea is borrowed from Al-Hariri （Assemblies，xiii.），and，--[493] Arab. 'Hajib，'a groom of the chambers，a chamberlain；also an eyebrow. See Al-Hariri，ibid. xiii. and xxii.
[494] This gesture speaks for itself：it is that of a dyer staining a cloth. The 'Sabbagh's'shop is the usual small recess，open to the street and showing pans of various dyes sunk like 'dog-laps'in the floor.
[495] The Arab. 'Sabt'（from sabata，he kept Sabt） and the Heb.
'Sabbath'both mean Saturn's day，Saturday，transferred by some unknown process throughout Christendom to Sunday. The change is one of the most curious in the history of religions. If there be a single command stronger than all others it is 'Keep the Saturday holy.'It was so kept by the Founder of Christianity；the order was never abrogated and yet most Christians are not aware that Sabbath，or 'Sawbath，'means Saturn's day，the 'Shiyar'of the older Arabs.
And to complete its degradation 'Sabbat'in French and German means a criaillerie，a 'row，'a disorder，an abominable festival of Hexen （witches）. This monstrous absurdity can be explained only by aberrations of sectarian zeal，of party spirit in religion.
[496] The men who cry to prayer. The first was Bilal，the Abyssinian slave bought and manumitted by Abu Bakr. His simple cry was 'I testify there is no Ilah （god） but Allah （God）！ Come ye to prayers！'Caliph Omar，with the Prophet's permission，added，'I testify that Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah.'The prayer-cry which is beautiful and human，contrasting pleasantly with the brazen clang of the bell. now is Allah is Almighty （bis）.
I declare no god is there but Allah （bis）.
Hie ye to Rogation （Hayya=halumma）.
Hie ye to Salvation （Falah=prosperity，Paradise）.
（'Hie ye to Edification，'a Shi'ah adjunct）.
Prayer is better than sleep （in the morning，also bis）.
No god is there but Allah This prayer call is similarly worded and differently pronounced and intoned throughout Al-Islam.
[497] i.e. a graceful youth of Al-Hijaz，the Moslem Holy Land，whose 'sons'claim especial privileges.
[498] Arab. 'harf'= a letter，as we should say a syllable.
[499] She uses the masculine 'fata，'in order to make the question more mysterious.
[500] The fountain-bowl is often ornamented by a rude mosaic of black and white marble with enlivenments of red stone or tile in complicated patterns.
[501] Arab. 'Kubad'= shaddock （citrus decumana）：the huge orange which Captain Shaddock brought from the West Indies；it is the Anglo-Indian pompelmoose，vulg. pummelo. An excellent bitter is made out of the rind steeped in spirits. Citronworts came from India whence they spread throughout the tropics：they were first introduced into Europe by the heroic Joam de Castro and planted in his garden at Cintra where their descendants are still seen.
[502] Arab. 'Baklawah，'Turk. 'Baklava，'a kind of pastry with blanched almonds bruised small between layers of dough，baked in the oven and cut into lozenges. It is still common.
[503] Her just fear was that the young woman might prove 'too clever by half'for her simpleton cousin.
[504] The curse is pregnant with meaning. On Judgment-day the righteous shall arise with their faces shining gloriously：hence the blessing，'Bayyaz'Allaho wajh-ak'（=Allah whiten thy countenance！）. But the wicked shall appear with faces scorched black and deformed by horror （Koran xxiv.）：hence 'God blacken thy brow！'I may observe that Easterns curse，the curse being everywhere the language of excited destructiveness；but only Westerns，and these chiefly English，swear，a practice utterly meaningless. 'Damn it'without specifying what the 'it'is，sounds like the speech of a naughty child anxious only to use a 'wicked word.''Damn you！'is intelligible all the world over. It has given rise to 'les goddams'in France，'Godames'in the Brazil and 'Gotama'amongst the Somal of Eastern Africa，who learn it in Aden，[505] Arab. 'Zardah，'usually rice dressed with saffron and honey，from Pers. 'Zard，'saffron，yellow. See Night dcxii.
[506] Vulgarly called 'knuckle-bone，'concerning which I shall have something to say.
[507] A bit of wood used in the children's game called 'Tab'which resembles our tip-cat （Lane M. E. chaps. xvii.）.
[508] Arab. 'Balah，'the unripened date，which is considered a laxative and eaten in hot weather.
[509] Lane （i. 611），quoting Al-Kazwini，notes that the date-stone is called 'Nawa'（dim. 'Nawayah'） which also means distance，absence，severance. Thus the lady threatens to cast off her greedy and sleepy lover.
[510] The pad of the carob-bean which changes little after being plucked is an emblem of constancy.
[511] This dirham=48 grains avoir.
[512] The weight would be round：also 'Hadid'（=iron） means sharp or piercing （Koran chaps. Vi]. 21）. The double 'swear'is intended to be very serious. Moreover iron conjures away fiends：
