[FN#279] Arab.  “Muunah,” the “Mona” of Maroccan travellers (English not Italian who are scandalised by “Mona”) meaning the provisions supplied gratis by the unhappy villagers to all who visit them with passport from the Sultan.  Our cousins German have lately scored a great success by paying for all their rations which the Ministers of other nations, England included, were mean enough to accept.

[FN#280] Arab.  “Kaannahu huwa”; lit.=as he (was) he.  This reminds us of the great grammarian, Sibawayh, whose name the Persians derive from “Apple-flavour"(Sib + bu).  He was disputing, in presence of Harun al-Rashid with a rival Al-Kisa’i, and advocated the Basrian form, “Fa-iza huwa hu” (behold, it was he) against the Kufan, “Fa-iza huwa iyyahu” (behold, it was him).  The enemy overcame him by appealing to Badawin, who spoke impurely, whereupon Sibawayh left the court, retired to Khorasan and died, it is said of a broken heart.

[FN#281] This is a sign of the Saudawi or melancholic temperament in which black bile pre-dominates.  It is supposed to cause a distaste for society and a longing for solitude, an unsettled habit of mind and neglect of worldly affairs.  I remarked that in Arabia students are subject to it, and that amongst philosophers and literary men of Mecca and Al-Medinah there was hardly one who was not spoken of as a “Saudawi.”  See Pilgrimage ii. 49, 50.

[FN#282] i.e.  I am a servant and bound to tell thee what my orders are.

[FN#283] A touching lesson on how bribes settle matters in the East.

[FN#284] i.e. fresh from water (Arab.  “Rutub"), before the air can tarnish them.  The pearl (margarita) in Arab. is Lu’lu’; the “unio” or large pearl Durr, plur.  Durar.  In modern parlance Durr is the second quality of the twelve into which pearls are divided.

[FN#285] i.e. the Wazir, but purposely left vague.

[FN#286] The whole of the nurse’s speech is admirable:  its naive and striking picture of conjugal affection goes far to redeem the grossness of The Nights.

[FN#287] The bitterness was the parting in the morning.

[FN#288] English “Prin’cess,” too often pronounced in French fashion Princess.

[FN#289] In dictionaries “Ban” (Anglice ben-tree) is the myrobalan which produces gum benzoin.  It resembles the tamarisk.  Mr. Lyall (p. 74 Translations of Ancient Arab Poetry, Williams and Norgate, 1885), calls it a species of Moringa, tall, with plentiful and intensely green foliage used for comparisons on account of its straightness and graceful shape of its branches.  The nut supplies a medicinal oil.

[FN#290] A sign of extreme familiarity:  the glooms are the hands and the full moons are the eyes.

[FN#291] Arab.  “Khal’a al-’izar”:  lit.=stripping off jaws or side-beard.

[FN#292] Arab.  “Shimal"=the north wind.

[FN#293] An operation well described by Juvenal—­