[FN#268] Arab. “samir,” one who enjoys the musamarah or night-talk outside the Arab tents.  “Samar” is the shade of the moon, or half darkness when only stars shine without a moon, or the darkness of a moonless night.  Hence the proverb (A.  P. ii. 513) “Ma af’al-hu al-samar wa’l kamar;” I will not do it by moondarkness or by moonshine, i.e. never.  I have elsewhere remarked that “Early to bed and early to rise” is a civilised maxim; most barbarians sit deep into the night in the light of the moon or a camp-fire and will not rise till nearly noon.  They agree in our modern version of the old saw:—­

     Early to bed and early to rise
     Makes a man surly and gives him red eyes.

The Shayks of Arab tribes especially transact most of their public business during the dark hours.

[FN#269] Suspecting that it had been sent by some Royal lover.

[FN#270] Arab.  “Rubbama” a particle more emphatic than rubba,=perhaps, sometimes, often.

[FN#271] “The broken (wall)” from Hatim=breaking.  It fences the Hijr or space where Ishmael is buried (vol. vi. 205); and I have described it in Pilgrimage iii. 165.

[FN#272] Arab.  “Farais” (plur. of farisah):  the phrase has often occurred and is=our “trembled in every nerve.”  As often happens in Arabic, it is “horsey;” alluding to the shoulder-muscles (not shoulder-blades, Preston p. 89) between neck and flank which readily quiver in blood-horses when excited or frightened.

[FN#273] Arab.  “Fazl"=exceeding goodness as in “Fazl wa ma’rifah"=virtue and learning.

[FN#274] Arab.  “Al-Mafarik” (plur. of Mafrak),=the pole or crown of the head, where the hair parts naturally and where baldness mostly begins.

[FN#275] Arab.  “Na’i al-maut”, the person sent round to announce a death to the friends and relations of the deceased and invite them to the funeral.

[FN#276] Arab.  “Tair al-bayn”, any bird, not only the Hatim or black crow, which announces separation.  Crows and ravens flock for food to the camps broken up for the springtide and autumnal marches, and thus become emblems of desertion and desolation.  The same birds are also connected with Abel’s burial in the Koran (v. 34), a Jewish tradition borrowed by Mohammed.  Lastly, here is a paranomasia in the words “Ghurab al-Bayn"=Raven of the Wold (the black bird with white breast and red beak and legs):  “Ghurab” (Heb.  Oreb) connects with Ghurbah=strangerhood, exile, and “Bayn” with distance, interval, disunion, the desert (between the cultivated spots).  There is another and a similar pun anent the Ban-tree; the first word meaning “he fared, he left.”

[FN#277] Arab.  “Tayr,” any flying thing, a bird; with true Arab carelessness the writer waits till the tale is nearly ended before letting us know that the birds are pigeons (Hamam).

[FN#278] Arab.  “Karr’aynan.”  The Arabs say, “Allah cool thine eye,” because tears of grief are hot and those of joy cool (Al-Asma’i); others say the cool eye is opposed to that heated by watching; and Al-Hariri (Ass. xxvii.) makes a scorching afternoon “hotter than the tear of a childless mother.”  In the burning climate of Arabia coolth and refrigeration are equivalent to refreshment and delight.