515. Tá-Há (which is the title of the 20th chapter of the Kur-án, and is composed of two letters of the Arabic alphabet) is considered, and often used, as a name of the Arabian Prophet (of whom Mustaf′a and Ahmad, as well as Mohammad, are also names): so likewise is Yá-Seen, which is the title of the 36th chapter of the Kur-án.

516. The “litám” (or “lithám”) is a piece of drapery with which a Bedawee often covers the lower part of his face. It frequently prevents his being recognised by another Arab, who might make him a victim of blood-revenge.

517. It was the custom to entitle the chief of a powerful tribe “El-Melik,” or “the King.”

518. This custom seems to have been copied from the Jews, who are accustomed to abound in almsgiving and other good works during the ten days commencing with their New Year’s Day and ending with the Day of Atonement, more than in all the rest of the year.—See Dr. M’Caul’s “Old Paths,” pp. 125, 129.

519. At present, equivalent to a farthing and one-fifth.

520. The “malkaf” has been described in the Introduction to this work, page 14.

521. This is a common expression of affection, meaning, “Thou who art as dear to me as my eye.”

522. The words were, “Yá Aboo-Bekr, Yá ’Omar, Yá ’Osmán, Yá ’Alee, Yá Hasan, Yá Hoseyn, Yá seyyid Ahmad Rifá’ah, Yá seyyid ’Abd-el-Kadir, El-Geelánee, Yá seyyid Ahmad El-Bedawee, Yá seyyid Ibráheem Ed-Dasookee.”

523. Aboo-So’ood was a very famous saint; and, being esteemed the most holy person of his day, received the appellation of “Sultán,” which has been conferred upon several other very eminent welees, and, when thus applied, signifies “King of Saints.” The tomb of Aboo-So’ood is among the mounds of rubbish on the south of Cairo.

524. The term “hágg” is applied both collectively and individually (to the whole caravan, or body of pilgrims, and to a single pilgrim).

525. Many persons who have not applied themselves to the study of natural history are ignorant of the remarkable fact that the camel has in itself a provision against hunger, besides its well-known supply against thirst. When deprived of its usual food for several successive days, it feeds upon the fat of its own hump, which, under these circumstances, gradually disappears before the limbs are perceptibly reduced. This explanation of the use of an excrescence, which would otherwise seem a mere inconvenient incumbrance, shows how wonderfully the camel is adapted to the peculiar circumstances in which Providence has placed it, and perhaps may be applied with equal propriety to the hump of the bull and cow, and some other animals, in hot and arid climates.

526. Had I remained stationary, somewhat more than two hours would have elapsed before the whole caravan had passed me.

527. This seems to be the correct appellation, but it is commonly called “Mahmal;” and I shall follow, on future occasions, the usual pronunciation.

528. Or, as pronounced in Arabia, Hejáz.

529. Almost all travellers have given erroneous accounts of the Mahmal: some asserting that its covering is that which is destined to be placed over the tomb of the Prophet: others, that it contains the covering which is to be suspended round the Kaabeh. Burckhardt, with his general accuracy, describes it as a mere emblem of royalty.

530. The twelfth day of Rabeea el-Owwal is also the anniversary of the death of Mohammad. It is remarkable that his birth and death are both related to have happened on the same day of the same month, and on the same day of the week, namely, Monday.

531. Like that represented in Chap. VI.

532. Represented in Chap. V., near the end.

533. This was his name, not a title.

534. The angels in heaven.

535. The author of the poem. The singer sometimes puts his own name in the place of this.

536. “Tá-Há” (as I have mentioned on a former occasion) is a name of the Arabian Prophet.

537. As a proof of this, I may mention, that, since the above was written, I have found the last six of the lines here translated, with some slight alterations, inserted as a common love-song in a portion of “The Thousand and One Nights,” printed at Calcutta (vol. i., page 425).

538. “Yá ’ammee!” signifies “O my uncle!”

539. Few of the spectators, or hearers, gave more than ten faddahs; and those of the poorer classes gave nothing, and indeed were not solicited.

540. I believe there were double this number; for I think I may safely say that I saw as many as double on a subsequent occasion, at the festival of the Mearág, which will hereafter be described.

541. It is said that the second sheykh of the Saadeeyeh (the immediate successor of the founder of the order) rode over heaps of glass bottles, without breaking any of them!

542. Performers of zikrs of this kind have been called, by various travellers, “barking, or howling, dervishes.”

543. Thefts are also sometimes committed in this mosque on other occasions, as a friend of mine lately experienced.—“I went there,” said he, “to pray; and, as I was stooping over the brink of the ‘meydaäh,’ to perform the ablution, having placed my shoes beside me, and was saying, ‘I purpose to perform the divine ordinance of the “wudoó,”’ somebody behind me said to himself, ‘I purpose to take away this nice pair of shoes.’ On looking round, I found an old worn-out pair of shoes put in the place of my own, which were new.”

544. ’Eesa is the Arabic name of Jesus, and not uncommon among Muslims, as they acknowledge and highly venerate the Messiah.

545. The performances of Richardson, described in Evelyn’s Memoirs (pp. 375-6, 8vo edition), appear to have surpassed those of the darweeshes here mentioned.

546. “Seyyidna” signifies “our lord.”

547. About this time, the Turkish pilgrims, on their way to Mekkeh, begin to arrive in Egypt.

548. This mosque was commenced shortly before the invasion of Egypt by the French, and completed soon after they had quitted the country.

549. This tale applies to the Khaleefeh El-Hákim. I have heard it related with some trifling differences.

550. In the Commentary of the Geláleyn, “Sidrat el-Muntah′a,” or the Lote-tree of the Extremity (Kur-án, chap. liii., verse 14), is interpreted as signifying “The Lote-tree beyond which neither angels nor others can pass.”

551. The Preserved Tablet, on which are said to be written the original of the Kur-án, and all God’s decrees, is here commonly understood; but I am informed that the “Original” (or, literally, the “Mother”) “of the Book” is God’s knowledge or prescience.

552. Kur-án, chap. xiii., verse 39.

553. Kur-án, chap. xliv., verse 3.—By some persons these words are supposed to apply to the Night of el-Kadr, which will hereafter be mentioned.

554. Mohammad gloried in his illiteracy, as a proof of his being inspired: it had the same effect upon his followers as the words of our Saviour had upon the Jews, who remarked, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?”—John vii. 15.

555. “The best of the Creation” is an appellation of the Prophet.

556. It is from this latter office that the crier is called “Musahhir.”

557. Described in the chapter on music.

558. Young ladies in Egypt are often called “brides.”

559. The fifth and four following verses of the Soorat el-Insán, or 76th chapter.

560. Not the night supposed by Sale, which is that between the 23rd and 24th days. See one of his notes on the 97th chapter of the Kur-án.

561. Kur-án, ibid.

562. It is also called “’Eed el-Fitr” (or the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast); and, by the Turks, “Ramazán Beyrám.”

563. The salutation of peace should be pronounced on entering the burial-ground and on arriving at the tomb, in the manner described in Chap. x., in my account of visits to the tombs and cenotaphs of saints. In the former case it is general; and in the latter, particular.

564. This was denied by several of my Muslim friends, before whom I casually mentioned it; but, by producing a piece of the Kisweh, I proved the truth of my assertion. I state this to show that a writer may often be charged with committing an error on authority which any person would consider perfectly convincing.

565. The Kaabeh is a building in the centre of the Temple of Mekkeh, most highly respected by the Muslims. It is nearly in the form of a cube. Its height is somewhat more than thirty feet; and each side is about the same, or a little more, in width. It is not exactly rectangular, nor exactly equilateral. The black covering, after having remained upon it nearly a year, is taken off on the 25th of Zu-l-Kaadeh, cut up, and sold to the pilgrims; and the building is left without a covering for the period of fifteen days: on the 10th of Zu-l-Heggeh, the first day of the Great Festival, the new Kisweh is put on. The interior is also hung with a covering, which is renewed each time that a new Sultán ascends the Turkish throne. It is necessary to renew the outer covering every year, in consequence of its exposure to the rain, etc. As the use of stuffs entirely composed of silk is prohibited, the Kisweh of the Kaabeh is lined with cotton to render it allowable.

566. This is often called, by the vulgar, “the veil of sitna Fát’meh;” because it is said that Fátimeh Shegeret ed-Durr, the wife of the Sultán Es-Sáleh, was the first person who sent a veil of this kind to cover the door of the Kaabeh.

567. I went to the mosque of the Hasaneyn a few days after, to examine the Kisweh and the other objects above described, that I might be able to make my account of them more accurate and complete. I was permitted to handle them all at my leisure; and gave a small present for this privilege, and for a superfluous piece of the Kisweh, for which I asked, a span in length, and nearly the same in breadth.

568. These are described in the chapter on music.

569. “’Arafát” is the name of the mountain which is one of the principal objects of pilgrimage.

570. Thus is properly pronounced the name of the town which we commonly call Suez.

571. It is also called “’Eed el-Kurbán” (or the Festival of the Sacrifice), and by the Turks, “Kurbán Beyrám.”

572. I believe that this period has been called by all European writers who have mentioned it, excepting myself, “El-Khamseen,” or by the same term differently expressed, signifying the Fifty; i.e. the Fifty days; but it is always termed by the Arabs “el-Khamáseen,” which signifies the Fifties, being a vulgar plural of Khamseen. In like manner, the Arabs call the corresponding period of the Jewish calendar by a term exactly agreeing with “el-Khamáseen;” namely “el-Khamseenát;” only its last day being termed “el-Khamseen.” See De Sacy’s “Chrestomathie Arabe,” 2nde éd., tome i., p. 98 of the Arabic text, and pp. 292 and 320 of his translation and notes. This eminent scholar, however, appears to have had no authority but that of Europeans for the name of the above-mentioned period of the Coptic calendar; for he has followed the travellers, and written it “Khamsin.”

573. “Kishk” (as the word is commonly pronounced, but properly “keshik”) is prepared from wheat, first moistened, then dried, trodden in a vessel to separate the husks, and coarsely ground with a hand-mill: the meal is mixed with milk, and about six hours afterwards is spooned out upon a little straw or bran, and then left for two or three days to dry. When required for use, it is either soaked or pounded, and put into a sieve, over a vessel; and then boiling water is poured on it. What remains in the sieve is thrown away; what passes through is generally poured into a saucepan of boiled meat or fowl, over the fire. Some leaves of white beet, fried in butter, are usually added to each plate of it.

574. Beans soaked in water until they begin to sprout, and then boiled.

575. Chap. ii., ver. 244.

576. That is, to his tomb.

577. He would be guilty of a sin if he did not do this when desired.

578. This present year (1834), the river having risen with unusual rapidity, the dam was cut on the 5th of August. Fears were entertained lest it should overflow the dam before it was cut: which would have been regarded as an evil omen.

579. The words thus translated, the boys pronounce “O′fa-lléh,” for “Owfa-lláh.”

580. This is an old building between the aqueduct and Masr el-’Ateekah, where the Sultáns and Governors of Egypt used to alight, and inspect the state of the river, previously to the cutting of the dam of the canal.

581. The person before whose house the announcement is made.

582. In Paradise.

583. A Fountain of Paradise.

584. “’Akab” is the general name of the largest kind of the boats which navigate the Nile; and “’akabeh” (plural “’akabát”), the name of a single boat of this kind.

585. Doubting whether the Nile will rise sufficiently high.

586. That is, in comparing the height of the river at a particular period in the present year with its height at the same period in preceding years.

587. O thou who hast said to me, “Why dost thou not bring better news?”

588. Cucumis dudaim.

589. Mentha Kahirina.

590. The Sheykh of the Mikyás, or Nilometer.

591. A gold coin, now become scarce. Its value, I am informed, is about a third of a pound sterling, or rather less.

592. “Shóbash” is synonymous with “nukoot,” being an Arabic corruption of the Persian “shábásh,” which also signifies “well done!” “excellent!”

593. The phrase was thus written and explained to me by a sheykh; but I suspect it should be, “Ikbál le-’anduh,” which is an expression vulgarly used to signify, “access to him,” and would mean, in this case, “[May we have] access to him!”

594. These customs remind us of St. Paul’s advice to the Ephesians, chap. v., ver. 19; which shows the antiquity of social pastimes of this kind. The Egyptians highly enjoy the religious love-songs of the munshids at zikrs.

595. The Subooa after the birth of a child is celebrated with more rejoicing; and therefore, in speaking of the Yóm es-Subooa, the seventh day after childbirth is generally understood.

596. It was not such a festival as this alone that is alluded to in Genesis xxix. 27, and in Judges xiv. 12. It was, and I believe is still, the custom of wealthy Bedawees (and such was Laban) to feast their friends seven days after marriage (as also after the birth of a male child); and every respectable Muslim, after marriage, if disappointed in the expectations he has been led to form of his wife, abstains from putting her away for about a week, that she may not be disgraced by suspicion; particularly if it be her first marriage.

597. See Exodus i. 16.

598. Some women add another ingredient; not when it is to be sent to friends; but for a particular purpose, which is, to make them fat: they broil and mash up a number of beetles in the butter; and then add the honey, etc. This has been alluded to in the chapter on the Domestic Life of the Women.

599. In a note to the second paragraph of the preceding chapter.

600. In like manner, the Jewish law pronounces a woman unclean during forty days after the birth of a male child; but double that time after bearing a female child. See Leviticus xii. 2, 4, 5.

601. A name of the Arabian Prophet.

602. The Virgin Mary.

603. The daughter of the Imám ’Alee.

604. The daughter of the Prophet.

605. Vulgo “fikee.”

606. This and the following words distinguished by inverted commas are the titles of chapters of the Kur-án, which the boys, as I have mentioned on a former occasion, learn in the reverse order of their arrangement, after having learned the first chapter. The chapter of “The News,” is the 78th: the others, afterwards named, are the 67th, 55th, 36th, 18th, 6th, and 2nd.

607. The looking-glasses. This is said to amuse the ladies.

608. The 37th chapter of the Kur-án.

609. What follows this describes the ceremonies which are performed both after the siráfeh and after the more common zeffeh, of which I have given an account in a former chapter.

610. Some Muslims turn the head of the corpse in the direction of Mekkeh; others, the right side, inclining the face in that direction: the latter, I believe, is the general custom.

611. See 2 Chron. xxxv. 25; Jer. ix. 17; and Matt. ix. 23.

612. The Egyptians have a superstitious objection to keep a corpse in the house during the night after the death, and to burying the dead after sunset; but the latter is sometimes done: I have witnessed one instance of it.

613. It is hardly necessary to state that the corpse of a female is always washed by a woman.

614. The leaves of the lote-tree, dried and pulverized, are often used by the poor instead of soap.

615. The kefen is often sprinkled with water from the well of Zemzem, in the Temple of Mekkeh.

616. “’A-l-’ebád” is a vulgar contraction, for “’ala-l-’ebád.”—It will be observed (from the specimen here given, in the first two lines) that this poem is not in the literary dialect of Arabic.

617. Literally, “the two easts,” or “the two places of sunrise:” the point where the sun rises in summer, and that where it rises in winter.

618. Or, “the two places of sunset.”

619. In the funeral scenes represented on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs, we often see females with a similar bandage round the head.

620. This was a custom of the ancient Egyptians: it is described by Herodotus, lib. ii., cap. 85.—Passengers in the streets and roads, when a corpse is borne by to the tomb, often say,—“God is most great! God is most great! That is what God and his Apostle have promised: and God and his Apostle have spoken truth. O God, increase our faith and submission!”—The women, pointing with the finger at the bier, say,—“I testify that there is no deity but God.”

621. This is only borne in funerals of young persons.

622. I give the form of prayer used by the Sháfe’ees, as being the most common in Cairo. Those of the other sects are nearly similar to this.

623. A “tekbeer” has been explained in a former chapter, as being the exclamation of “Alláhu Akbar” or “God is most great!”

624. Or, according to one of my sheykhs, “its business.”

625. It is believed that the body of the wicked is painfully oppressed by the earth against its sides in the grave; though this is always made hollow.

626. The burial-grounds of Cairo are mostly outside the town, in the desert tracts on the north, east, and south. Those within the town are few, and not extensive.

627. The Prophet forbade engraving the name of God, or any words of the Kur-án, upon a tomb. He also directed that tombs should be low, and built only of crude bricks.

628. Like that seen in the distance in the engraving here inserted.

629. The Málikees disapprove of this custom, the “talkeen” of the dead.

630. The opinions of the Muslims respecting the state of souls in the interval between death and the judgment are thus given by Sale (“Preliminary Discourse,” sect. iv.):—“They distinguish the souls of the faithful into three classes: the first, of prophets, whose souls are admitted into paradise immediately; the second, of martyrs, whose spirits, according to a tradition of Mohammad, rest in the crops of green birds, which eat of the fruits and drink of the rivers of paradise; and the third, of other believers, concerning the state of whose souls before the resurrection there are various opinions. For, 1. Some say that they stay near the sepulchres, with liberty, however, of going where-ever they please; which they confirm from Mohammad’s manner of saluting them at their graves, and his affirming that the dead heard those salutations as well as the living. Whence perhaps proceeded the custom of visiting the tombs of relations, so common among the Mohammadans. 2. Others imagine they are with Adam in the lowest heaven, and also support their opinion by the authority of their prophet, who gave out that in his return from the upper heavens in his pretended night-journey, he saw there the souls of those who were destined to paradise on the right hand of Adam, and those who were condemned to hell on his left. 3. Others fancy the souls of believers remain in the well Zemzem, and those of infidels in a certain well in the province of Hadramót, called Barahoot [so in the Kámoos, but by Sale written Borhût]; but this opinion is branded as heretical. 4. Others say they stay near the graves for seven days; but that whither they go afterwards is uncertain. 5. Others, that they are all in the trumpet, whose sound is to raise the dead. And, 6. Others, that the souls of the good dwell in the forms of white birds, under the throne of God. As to the condition of the souls of the wicked, besides the opinions that have been already mentioned, the more orthodox hold that they are offered by the angels to heaven, from whence being repulsed as stinking and filthy, they are offered to the earth; and being also refused a place there, are carried down to the seventh earth, and thrown into a dungeon, which they call Sijjeen, under a green rock, or, according to a tradition of Mohammad, under the devil’s jaw, to be there tormented till they are called up to be joined again to their bodies.” I believe that the opinion respecting the Well of Barahoot commonly prevails in the present day.

631. Chapter xxxvii., last three verses.

632. See Genesis 1. 3.

633. As the ancient Egyptian women did in the same case.—See a passage in Herodotus, before referred to, lib. ii., cap. 85.

634. Καθαριότητος εἵνεκεν. Compare the account given by Herodotus of the habits of the priests of ancient Egypt: lib. ii., cap. 37.

635. I have neglected to write the name of this appendage; but if my memory do not deceive me, I was told that it is termed “kalás’weh,” which word seems to be a corruption of “kalensuweh.” Mengin calls it “kaloucyeh” (“Hist. de l’Egypte sous Mohammed-Aly,” tome ii., p. 290).

636. Mengin, ubi supra, pp. 284-289.

637. This has been shown by Quatremère, in his “Researches on the Language and Literature of Egypt.”

638. They chant nearly in the same manner as the Muslims reciting the Kur-án.

639. Acts xv. 20 and 29.

640. The ball and bird are called “el-kubbeh wa-t-teyr.” It is said that the Muslims of Egypt, on some occasions, as on the inauguration of a Sultán, used to observe the custom here described; but this appears to be an error, arising from a misunderstanding of the term “el-kubbeh wa-t-teyr” applied by historians to an umbrella surmounted by the figure of a bird, which was borne over the head of a Sultán in certain pompous processions.

641. The custom mentioned by Burckhardt, in his Arabic Proverbs, page 117, as prevailing “among the lower classes of Muslims at Cairo,” is observed by the Copts.

642. Thus pronounced for “Mo’allim.” It signifies “teacher” or “master;” and is a title given to all Copts but those of the poorer class, or peasants. The registrar of the taxes of a village is simply called “the M’allim of the village.”

643. If the reader desire further and fuller details on this subject, he may consult Et. Quatremère’s ‘Mémoires Géogr. et Hist. sur l’Egypte,’ tome ii., pp. 220-266.

644. Equivalent (at that period) to about thirteen shillings, or, as some say, a little more than half a guinea.

645. It should be observed here, that the cases alluded to form exceptions to the general toleration exhibited by the Muslims; and that the Copts who have been converted to El-Islám by oppression have been few in comparison with those who have changed their religion voluntarily. Many have done this through love of Muslim women.

646. Chap. v., ver. 85.

647. It is surprising that Muslims should hang a Jew against a window of a mosque, when they consider him so unclean a creature that his blood would defile the sword. For this reason a Jew, in Egypt, is never beheaded.