书城公版Volume Six
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第132章

Nor is there one word to be said in favour of the corruption except that,like the Protestant mispronunciation of Latin and the Erasmian ill-articulation of Greek,it has become English,and has lent its little aid in dividing the Britons from the rest of the civilised world.

[80] The moon,I repeat,is masculine in the so-called'Semitic'tongues.

[81] i.e. camel loads,about lbs. 300;and for long journeys lbs. 250.

[82] Arab.'Janazah,'so called only when carrying a corpse;else Na'ash,Sarir or Tabut: Iran being the large hearse on which chiefs are borne. It is made of plank or stick work;but there are several varieties. (Lane,M. E. chaps. xxviii.)

[83] It is meritorious to accompany the funeral cortege of a Moslem even for a few paces.

[84] Otherwise he could not have joined in the prayers.

[85] Arab.'Halwa'made of sugar,cream,almonds,etc. That of Maskat is famous throughout the East.

[86] i.e.'Camphor'to a negro,as we say'Snowball,'by the figure antiphrase.

[87]'Little Good Luck,'a dim. form of'bakht'=luck,a Persian word naturalized in Egypt.

[88] There are,as I have shown,not a few cannibal tribes in Central Africa and these at times find their way into the slave market.

[89] i.e. After we bar the door.

[90] Arab.'Jawish'from Turk. Chawush,Chiaoosh,a sergeant,poursuivant,royal messenger. I would suggest that this is the word'Shalish'or'Jalish'in Al-Siynti's History of the Caliphs (p. 501) translated by Carlyle'milites,'by Schultens'Sagittarius'and by Jarett'picked troops.'

[91] This familiarity with blackamoor slave-boys is common in Egypt and often ends as in the story: Egyptian blood is sufficiently mixed with negro to breed inclination for miscegenation. But here the girl was wickedly neglected by her mother at such an age as ten.

[92] Arab.'Farj';hence a facetious designation of the other sex is'Zawi'l-furuj'(grammatically Zawatu'l- furuj)=habentes rimam,slit ones.

[93] This ancient and venerable practice of inspecting the marriage-sheet is still religiously preserved in most parts of the East,and in old-fashioned Moslem families. It is publicly exposed in the Harem to prove that the'domestic calamity'(the daughter) went to her husband a clean maid. Also the general idea is that no blood will impose upon the exerts,or jury of matrons,except that of a pigeon-poult which exactly resembles hymeneal blood-- when not subjected to the microscope. This belief is universal in Southern Europe and I have heard of it in England.

Further details will be given in Night ccxi.

[94]'Agha'Turk.=sir,gentleman,is,I have said,politely addressed to a eunuch.

[95] As Bukhayt tells us he lost only his testes,consequently his erectio et distensio penis was as that of a boy before puberty and it would last as long as his heart and circulation kept sound. Hence the eunuch who preserves his penis is much prized in the Zenanah where some women prefer him to the entire man,on account of his long performance of the deed of kind. Of this more in a future page.

[96] It is or rather was the custom in Egypt and Syria to range long rows of fine China bowls along the shelves running round the rooms at the height of six or seven feet,and they formed a magnificent cornice. I bought many of them at Damascus till the people,learning their value,asked prohibitive prices.

[97] The tale is interesting as well as amusing,excellently describing the extravagance still practiced in middle-class Moslem families on the death of the pater familias. I must again note that Arab women are much more unwilling to expose the back of the head covered by the'Tarhah'(head-veil) than the face,which is hidden by the'Burke'or nose bag.

[98] The usual hysterical laughter of this nervous race.

[99] Here the slave refuses to be set free and starve. For a master so to do without ample reasons is held disgraceful. I well remember the weeping and wailing throughout Sind when an order from Sir Charles Napier set free the negroes whom British philanthropy thus doomed to endure if not to die of hunger.

[100] Manumission,which is founded upon Roman law,is an extensive subject discussed in the Hidayah and other canonical works. The slave here lays down the law incorrectly but his claim shows his truly'nigger'impudence.

[101] This is quite true to nature. The most remarkable thing in the wild central African is his enormous development of'destructiveness.'At Zanzibar I never saw a slave break a glass or plate without a grin or a chuckle of satisfaction.

[102] Arab.'Khassa-ni';Khusyatani (vulg.) being the testicles,also called'bayzatan'the two eggs) a double entendre which has given rise to many tales. For instance in the witty Persian book'Dozd o Kazi'(The Thief and the Judge) a footpad strips the man of learning and offers to return his clothes if he can ask him a puzzle in law or religion. The Kazi (in folk-lore mostly a fool) fails,and his wife bids him ask the man to supper for a trial of wits on the same condition. She begins with compliments and ends by producing five eggs which she would have him distribute equally amongst the three;and,when he is perplexed,she gives one to each of the men taking three for herself. Whereupon the'Dozd'wends his way,having lost his booty as his extreme stupidity deserved. In the text the eunuch,Kafur,is made a'Sandal'or smooth-shaven,so that he was of no use to women.

[103] Arab.'Khara,'the lowest possible word: Ya Khara! is the commonest of insults,used also by modest women. I have heard one say it to her son.

[104] Arab.'Kamah,'a measure of length,a fathom,also called'Ba'a.'Both are omitted in that sadly superficial book,Lane's Modern Egyptians,App. B.