[FN#543] Arab.  “Tasill saliata ’l-Munkat’in"=lit. “raining on the drouth-hardened earth of the cut-off.”  The metaphor is admissible in the eyes of an Arab who holds water to be the chiefest of blessings, and makes it synonymous with bounty and beneficence.”

[FN#544] Possibly this is said in mere fun; but, as Easterns are practical physiognomists, it may hint the fact that a large nose in womankind is the sign of a masculine nature.

[FN#545] Arab.  “Zakat wa Sadakat,"=lit. paying of poor rate and purifying thy property by almsdeeds.  See vol. i. 339.

[FN#546] I have noted (i. 293) that Kamis ( , Chemise, Cameslia, Camisa) is used in the Hindostani and Bengali dialects.  Like its synonyms praetexta and shift, it has an equivocal meaning and here probably signifies the dress peculiar to Arab devotees and devout beggars.

[FN#547] I omit here and elsewhere the parenthetical formula “Kala al-Rawi,” etc.=The Story-teller sayeth, reminding the reader of its significance in a work collected from the mouths of professional Tale-tellers and intended mainly for their own use.

[FN#548] The usual sign of emotion, already often mentioned.

[FN#549] It being no shame to Moslems if a slave become King.

[FN#550] Arab.  “Tarbiyati,” i.e., he was brought up in my house.

[FN#551] There is no Salic law amongst Moslems; but the Rasm or custom of AlIslam, established by the succession of the four first Caliphs, to the prejudice of Ayishah and other masterful women would be a strong precedent against queenly rule.  It is the reverse with the Hindus who accept a Rani as willingly as a Rajah and who believe with Europeans that when kings reign women rule, and vice versa.  To the vulgar Moslem feminine government appears impossible, and I was once asked by an Afghan, “What would happen if the queen were in childbed?”

[FN#552] Arab.  “Khutbah,” the sermon preached from the pulpit (Mimbar) after the congregational prayers on Friday noon.  It is of two kinds, for which see Lane, M.E., chap. iii.  This public mention of his name and inscribing it upon the newly-minted money are the special prerogatives of the Moslem king:  hence it often happens that usurpers cause a confusion of Khutbah and coinage.

[FN#553] For a specimen of which, blowing a man up with bellows, see Al-Mas’udi, chap. cxxiii.

[FN#554] i.e. a long time:  the idiom has been noted before more than once.

[FN#555] i.e. with what he had heard and what he was promised.

[FN#556] Arab.  “Shakhs mafsud,” i.e. an infidel.

[FN#557] Arab.  “Bunud,” plur. of Persian “band"=hypocrisy, deceit.

[FN#558] Arab.  “Buruj” pl. of Burj. lit.=towers, an astrological term equivalent to our “houses” or constellations which form the Zodiacal signs surrounding the heavens as towers gird a city; and applied also to the 28 lunar Mansions.  So in Al-Hariri (Ass. of Damascus) “I swear by the sky with its towers,” the incept of Koran chapt. lxxxv.; see also chapts. xv. 26 and xxv. 62.  “Burj” is a word with a long history:  {Greek} burg, burgh, etc.