[FN#8] These policemen’s tales present a curious contrast with the detective stories of M. Gaboriau and his host of imitators.  In the East the police, like the old Bow Street runners, were and are still recruited principally amongst the criminal classes on the principle of “Set a thief,” &c.  We have seen that the Barmecide Wazirs of Baghdad “anticipated Fourier’s doctrine of the passionel treatment of lawless inclinations,” and employed as subordinate officers, under the Wali or Prefect of Police, accomplished villains like Ahmad al-Danaf (vol. iv. 75), Hasan Shuuman and Mercury Ali (ibid.) and even women (Dalilah the Crafty) to coerce and checkmate their former comrades.  Moreover a gird at the police is always acceptable, not only to a coffee-house audience, but even to a more educated crowd; witness the treatment of the “Charley” and the “Bobby” in our truly English pantomimes.

[FN#9] i.e. the Chief of Police, as the sequel shows.

[FN#10] About L4.

[FN#11] i.e. of the worlds visible and invisible.

[FN#12] Arab.  “Mukaddam:”  see vol. iv, 42.

[FN#13] “Faithful of Command;” it may be a title as well as a P. N. For “Al-Amin,” see vol. iv. 261.

[FN#14] i. e.  “What have I to do with, etc.?” or “How great is the difference between me and her.”  The phrase is still popular in Egypt and Syria; and the interrogative form only intensifies it.  The student of Egyptian should always try to answer a question by a question.  His labours have been greatly facilitated by the conscientious work of my late friend Spitta Bey.  I tried hard to persuade the late Rogers Bey, whose knowledge of Egyptian and Syrian (as opposed to Arabic) was considerable, that a simple grammar of Egyptian was much wanted; he promised to undertake it) but death cut short the design.

[FN#15] Arab.  “Nawwab,” plur. of Naib (lit. deputies, lieutenants)=a Nabob.  Till the unhappy English occupation of Egypt, the grand old Kil’ah (Citadel) contained the palace of the Pasha and the lodgings and offices of the various officials.  Foreign rulers, if they are wise, should convert it into a fort with batteries commanding the town, like that of Hyderabad, in Sind.

[FN#16] For this famous and time-honoured building, see vol. i. 269.

[FN#17] Arab.  “Tamkin,” gravity, assurance.

[FN#18] Arab. " Iyal-hu” lit. his family, a decorous circumlocution for his wives and concubines.

[FN#19] Arab.  “Darb,” lit. a road; here a large thoroughfare.

[FN#20] When Mohammed Ali Pasha (the “Great”) began to rule, he found Cairo “stifled” with filth, and gave orders that each householder, under pain of confiscation, should keep the street before his house perfectly clean.  This was done after some examples had been made and the result was that since that time Cairo never knew the plague.  I am writing at Tangier where a Mohammed Ali is much wanted.