[44] The word Rum means that empire of which Constantinople is the capital, and sometimes called, in modern times, Romania.  It was originally applied to the Eastern Roman Empire, and, at present, it denotes Turkey in Europe and Asia.

[45] Naushirwan was a king of Persia, who died in A.D. 578.  He is celebrated in oriental history for his wisdom and justice.  During his reign Muhammad the prophet was born.  The Persian writings are full of anecdotes of Naushirwan’s justice and wisdom.

[46] Hatim or rather Hatim Tai, is the name of an Arab chief, who is celebrated for his generosity and his mad adventures, in an elegant Persian work called Kissae Hatim Tai.  This work was translated into English for the Asiatic Translation Fund in 1830.

[47] Called also Kustuntuniya by the Persians, and Istambol, also Islambol, by the Turks.

[48] The shabi barat is a Mahometan festival which happens on the full moon of the month of Sha’ban; illuminations are made at night, and fire-works displayed; prayers are said for the repose of the dead, and offerings of sweetmeats and viands made to their manes.  A luminous night-scene is therefore compared to the shabi barat.

[49] I warrant you there were no “tickets of leave” granted in those blessed days.

[50] This means an impertinent, or rather a chaffing, question, like our own classic interrogation, “Does your mother know you’ra out?”

[51] It is incumbent on every good Musalman to pray five times in the twenty-four hours.  The stated periods are rather capriciously settled:—­1st.  The morning prayer is to be repeated between daybreak and sunrise; 2nd.  The prayer of noon, when the sun shows a sensible declination from the meridian; 3rd.  The afternoon prayer, when the sun is near the horizon that the shadow of a perpendicular object is twice it’s length; 4th.  The evening prayer, between sunset and close of twilight; 5th.  The prayer of night, any time during the darkness.  The inhabitants of Iceland and Greenland would find themselves sadly embarrassed in complying with these pious precepts, bequeathed by Muhammad to the true believers, as they call themselves.

[52] The Asiatics consider male children as the light or splendour of their house.  In the original there is a play upon the word “diya” which, as a substantive signifies “a lamp;” and as a verbal participle it denotes “given,” or “bestowed.”

[53] The literal meaning is—­“There is no one as the bearer of his name, and the giver of water.”

[54] The Mirror Saloon, called by the Persians, and from them by the Hindustanis, Shish Mahall, is a grand apartment in all oriental palaces, the walls of which are generally inlaid with small mirrors, and their borders richly gilded.  Those of Dilli and Agra are the finest in Hinduistan.