[FN#359] According to D’Herbelot (s.v.  Rostac) it is a name given to the villages of Khorasan as “Souad” (Sawad) to those of Irak and Makhlaf to those of Al-Yaman:  there is, how ever, a well-known Al-Rustak (which like Al-Bahrayn always takes the article) in the Province of Oman West of Maskat, and as it rhymes with “Irak” it does well enough.  Mr. Badger calls this ancient capital of the Ya’arubah Imams “er-Rastak” (Imams of Oman).

[FN#360] i.e. a furious knight.

[FN#361] In the Mac.  Edit.  “Hassan,” which may rhyme with Nabhan, but it is a mere blunder.

[FN#362] In Classical Arabic Irak (like Yaman, Bahrayn and Rustak) always takes the article.

[FN#363] The story-teller goes back from Kufah founded in Omar’s day to the times of Abraham.

[FN#364] This manoeuvre has often been practiced; especially by the first Crusaders under Bohemond (Gibbon) and in late years by the Arab slavers in Eastern Intertropical Africa.  After their skirmishes with the natives they quartered and “bristled” the dead like game, roasted and boiled the choice pieces and pretended to eat the flesh.  The enemy, who was not afraid of death, was struck with terror by the idea of being devoured, and this seems instinctive to the undeveloped mind.