[FN#366] Les vertebres ont fait bourrelet, says M. Houdas who adds that “Shakban” is the end of a cloth, gown, or cloak, which is thrown over the shoulders and serves, like the “Jayb” in front, to carry small parcels, herbs, etc.

[FN#367] In the local Min jargon, the language of Fellahs, “Addiki” = I will give thee.

[FN#368] In text “Min al-’An wa sa’idan;” lit. = from this moment upwards.

[FN#369] “Tarajjum” taking refuge from Satan the Stone (Rajim).  See vol. iv. 242.

[FN#370] i.e. a descenant of Al-Hashim, great-grandfather of the Prophet.  See ix. 24.

[FN#371] In text “Shobasi,” for “Sobashi” which M. Houdas translates prevot du Palais.

[FN#372] In the C. Ms. Attaf’s head was to be cut off.

[FN#373] In the C. Ms. the anagnorisis is much more detailed.  Ja’afar asks Attaf if he knew a Damascus-man Attaf hight and so forth; and lastly an old man comes forward and confesses to have slain the Sharif or Hashimi.

[FN#374] The drink before the meal, as is still the custom in Syria and Egypt.  See vol. vii. 132.

[FN#375] Gauttier (vii. 256), illustrating the sudden rise of low-caste and uneducated men to high degree, quotes a contemporary celebrity, the famous Mirza Mohammed Husayn Khan who, originally a Bakkal or greengrocer, was made premier of Fath Ali Shah’s brilliant court, the last bright flash of Iranian splendour and autocracy.  But Iran is a land upon which Nature has inscribed “Resurgam”; and despite her present abnormal position between two vast overshadowing empires—­British India and Russia in Asia—­she has still a part to play in history.  And I may again note that Al-Islam is based upon the fundamental idea of a Republic which is, all (free) men are equal, and the lowest may aspire to the highest dignity.

[FN#376] In text “’Aramrami.”

[FN#377] “Wa’llaha ’l-Muwaffiku ’l-Mu’in” = God prospereth and directeth, a formula often prefixed or suffixed to a book.

[FN#378] Ms. pp. 628-685.  Gauttier, vii. 64-90; Histoire du Prince Habib et de la Princesse Dorrat-el-Gawas.  The English translation dubs it “Story of Habib and Dorathil-goase, or the Arabian Knight” (vol. iii. 219-89); and thus degrades the high sounding name to a fair echo of Dorothy Goose.  The name = Pearl of the Diver:  it is also the P.N. of a treatise on desinental syntax by the grammarian-poet Al-Hariri (Chenery, p. 539).

[FN#379] The “Banu Hilal,” a famous tribe which formed part of a confederation against the Prophet on his expedition to Honayn.  See Tabari, vol. iii. chapt. 32, and Doughty, Arabia Deserta (Index, B. Helal).  In the text we have the vulgarism “Bani” for “Banu”.

[FN#380] Gauttier (vii. 64) clean omits the former Emir because he has nothing to do with the tale.  In Heron it is the same, and the second chief is named “Emir-Ben-Hilac-Salamis”; or for shortness tout bonnement “Salamis”; and his wife becoming Amirala which, if it mean anything, is = Colonel, or Captain R. N.