[55] “The messenger was the white hair in his majesty’s whiskers.

[56] Called in the original, Pain Bagh.  Most royal Asiatic gardens have a Pain Bagh or lower terrace adorned with flowers, to which princes descend when they wish to relax with their courtiers.

[57] The Diwani’ Amm, or Public Hall of Audience in eastern palaces, is a grand saloon where Asiatic princes hold a more promiscuous court than in the Diwani Khass, or the Private Hall of Audience.

[58] The Musalla, is generally in Persia a small carpet, but frequently a fine mat in Hindustan, which is spread for the performance of prayer.  The devotee kneels and prostrates himself upon it in his act of devotion.  It is superfluous to remark that the Muhammadans pray with their face turned towards Mecca, as far as they can guess its direction.  Jerusalem was the original point, but the prophet, (it is said,) in a fit of anger, changed it to Mecca.

[59] Khiradmand means wise; as a man’s name it corresponds to our “Mr. Wiseman,” or as the French have it “Monsieur le Sage.”  It does not necessarily follow, however, that every Mr. Wiseman is a sage.

[60] The Diwani Khass, or Private Hall of Audience, is a grand saloon, where only the king’s privy councillors or select officers of state are admitted to an audience.

[61] As Asiatic princes in general pass the most part of their time in the haram or in seclusion, eunuchs are the usual carriers of messages, &c.

[62] The posture of respect, as to stand motionless like a statue, the eyes fixed on the ground, and the arms crossed over the waist.

[63] Literally, “rings or circles had formed round his eyes, and his visage had turned yellow.”  The term “yellow” is used among the dark-complexioned people of the East in the same sense as our word “pale,” or the Latin “pallidus,” to indicate fear, grief, &c.

[64] The Asiatics reckon the animal species at 18,000; a number which even the fertile genius of Buffon has not attained.  Yet the probability is, that the orientals arc nearer the true mark; and the wonder is, how they acquired such correct ideas on the subject.

[65] There is a well-known Eastern saying, that, “On the part of a king, one hour’s administration of justice will be of more avail to him on the day of judgment than twenty years of prayer.”

[66] Literally, “Fakirs and Jogis;” either term denotes “hermit” the former being applied to a Musalman, the latter to a Hindu.

[67] In India, the day was formerly divided into four equal portions, called pahars or watches, of which the second terminated at noon; hence, do-pahar-din, mid-day.  In like manner was the night divided; hence, do-pahar-rat, midnight.  The first pahar of the day began at sunrise, and of the night at sunset; and since the time from sunrise to noon made exactly two pahars, it follows that in the north of India the pahar must have varied from three and a-half hours about the summer solstice, to two and a-half in winter, the pahars of the night varying inversely.  A shallow commentator has said that “the pahar or watch is three hours, and that the day commences at six a.m.,” which is altogether incorrect.