Note 259,  p. 206.—They swore the latest, holiest deed.

“Nul d’entre eux oseroit se parjurer, quand il a pris à témoin cet élément terrible et vengeur.”—Encyclopédie Françoise.

Note 260,  p. 207.—The Persian lily shines and towers.

“A vivid verdure succeeds the autumnal rains, and the ploughed fields are covered with the Persian lily, of a resplendent yellow colour.”—Russel’s Aleppo.

Note 261,  p. 210.—When toss’d at midnight furiously.

“It is observed, with respect to the Sea of Herkend, that when it is tossed by tempestuous winds it sparkles like fire.”—Travels of Two Mohammedans.

Note 262,  p. 210.—Up, daughter, up—the Kerna’s breath.

A kind of trumpet;—it “was that used by Tamerlane, the sound of which is described as uncommonly dreadful, and so loud as to be heard at the distance of several miles.”—Richardson.

Note 263,  p. 212.—Thou wor’st on Ohod’s field of death.

“Mohammed had two helmets, an interior and exterior one; the latter of which, called Al Mawashah, the fillet, wreath, or wreathed garland, he wore at the battle of Ohod.”—Universal History.

Note 264,  p. 214.—But turn to ashes on the lips.

They say that there are apple-trees upon the sides of this sea, which bear very lovely fruit, but within are all full of ashes.—Thevenot. The same is asserted of the oranges there; vide Witman’s Travels in Asiatic Turkey.

“The Asphalt Lake, known by the name of the Dead Sea, is very remarkable on account of the considerable proportion of salt which it contains. In this respect it surpasses every other known water on the surface of the earth. This great proportion of bitter tasted salts is the reason why neither animal nor plant can live in this water.”—Klaproth’s Chemical Analysis of the Water of the Dead Sea, Annals of Philosophy, January, 1813. Hasselquist, however, doubts the truth of this last assertion, as there are shell-fish to be found in the lake.

Lord Byron has a similar allusion to the fruits of the Dead Sea, in that wonderful display of genius, his third Canto of Childe Harold,—magnificent beyond any thing, perhaps, that even he has ever written.

Note 265,  p. 214.—While lakes, that shone in mockery nigh.

“The Suhrab, or Water of the Desert, is said to be caused by the rarefaction of the atmosphere from extreme heat; and, which augments the delusion, it is most frequent in hollows, where water might be expected to lodge. I have seen bushes and trees reflected in it with as much accuracy as though it had been the face of a clear and still lake.”—Pottinger.

“As to the unbelievers, their works are like a vapour in a plain which the thirsty traveller thinketh to be water, until when he cometh thereto he findeth it to be nothing.”—Koran, chap. 24.

Note 266,  p. 215.—The Bid-musk had just passed over.—“A wind which prevails in February, called Bidmusk, from a small and odoriferous flower of that name.”—“The wind which blows these flowers commonly lasts till the end of the month.”—Le Bruyn.

Note 267,  p. 215.—The sea-gipsies, who live for ever on the water.—“The Biajús are of two races: the one is settled on Borneo, and are a rude but warlike and industrious nation, who reckon themselves the original possessors of the island of Borneo. The other is a species of sea-gipsies or itinerant fishermen, who live in small covered boats, and enjoy a perpetual summer on the eastern ocean, shifting to leeward from island to island, with the variations of the monsoon. In some of their customs this singular race resemble the natives of the Maldivia islands. The Maldivians annually launch a small bark, loaded with perfumes, gums, flowers, and odoriferous wood, and turn it adrift at the mercy of winds and waves, as an offering to the Spirit of the Winds; and sometimes similar offerings are made to the spirit whom they term the King of the Sea. In like manner the Biajús perform their offering to the God of Evil, launching a small bark, loaded with all the sins and misfortunes of the nation, which are imagined to fall on the unhappy crew that may be so unlucky as first to meet with it.”—Dr. Leyden on the Languages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese Nations.

Note 268,  p. 215.—The violet sherbets.—“The sweet-scented violet is one of the plants most esteemed, particularly for its great use in Sorbet, which they make of violet sugar.”—Hasselquist.

“The sherbet they most esteem, and which is drunk by the Grand Signor himself, is made of violets and sugar.”—Tavernier.

Note 269,  p. 215.—The pathetic measure of Nava.—“Last of all she took a guitar, and sung a pathetic air in the measure called Nava, which is always used to express the lamentations of absent lovers.”—Persian Tales.

Note 270,  p. 217.—No music tim’d her parting oar.

“The Easterns used to set out on their longer voyages with music.”—Harmer.

Note 271,  p. 217.—In silence through the Gate of Tears.

“The Gate of Tears, the straits or passage into the Red Sea, commonly called Babelmandel. It received this name from the old Arabians, on account of the danger of the navigation, and the number of shipwrecks by which it was distinguished; which induced them to consider as dead, and to wear mourning for all who had the boldness to hazard the passage through it into the Ethiopic ocean.”—Richardson.

Note 272,  p. 218.—In the still warm and living breath.

“I have been told that whensoever an animal falls down dead, one or more vultures, unseen before, instantly appear.”—Pennant.

Note 273,  p. 218.—As a young bird of Babylon.

“They fasten some writing to the wings of a Bagdat or Babylonian pigeon.”—Travels of certain Englishmen.

Note 274,  p. 219.—Shooting around their jasper fount.

“The Empress of Jehan-Guire used to divert herself with feeding tame fish in her canals, some of which were many years afterwards known by fillets of gold, which she caused to be put round them.”—Harris.

Note 275,  p. 219.—To tell her ruby rosary.

“Le Tespih, qui est un chapelet composé de 99 petites boules d’agate, de jaspe, d’ambre, de corail, ou d’autre matière précieuse. J’en ai vu un superbe au Seigneur Jerpos; il étoit de belles et grosses perles parfaites et égales, estimé trente mille piastres.”—Toderini.

Note 276,  p. 223.—Like meteor brands as if throughout.

The meteors that Pliny calls “faces.”

Note 277,  p. 224.—The Star of Egypt whose proud light.

“The brilliant Canopus, unseen in European climates.”—Brown.

Note 278,  p. 224.—In the White Islands of the West.

See Wilford’s learned Essays on the Sacred Isles in the West.

Note 279,  p. 225.—Sparkles, as ’twere that lightning-gem.

A precious stone of the Indies, called by the ancients Ceraunium, because it was supposed to be found in places where thunder had fallen. Tertullian says it has a glittering appearance, as if there had been fire in it; and the author of the Dissertation in Harris’s Voyages supposes it to be the opal.

Note 280,  p. 227.—Their garb—the leathern belt that wraps.

D’Herbelot, art. Agduani.

Note 281,  p. 227.—Each yellow vest—that rebel hue.

“The Guebres are known by a dark yellow colour, which the men affect in their clothes.”—Thevenot.

Note 282,  p. 227.—The Tartar fleece upon their caps.

“The Kolah or cap, worn by the Persians, is made of the skin of the sheep of Tartary.”—Waring.

Note 283,  p. 234.—Open her bosom’s glowing veil.

A frequent image among the Oriental poets. “The nightingales warbled their enchanting notes, and rent the thin veils of the rosebud and the rose.”—Jami.

Note 284,  p. 237.—The sorrowful tree, Nilica.—“Blossoms of the sorrowful Nyctanthes give a durable colour to silk.”—Remarks on the Husbandry of Bengal, p. 200. Nilica is one of the Indian names of this flower.—Sir W. Jones. The Persians call it Gul.—Carreri.

Note 285,  p. 239.—That cooling feast the traveller loves.

“In parts of Kerman, whatever dates are shaken from the trees by the wind they do not touch, but leave them for those who have not any, or for travellers.”—Ebn Haukal.

Note 286,  p. 240.—The Searchers of the Grave appear.

The two terrible angels Monkir and Nakir, who are called “the Searchers of the Grave” in the “Creed of the orthodox Mahometans” given by Ockley, vol. ii.

Note 287,  p. 240.—The mandrake’s charnel leaves at night.

“The Arabians call the mandrake ‘the Devil’s candle,’ on account of its shining appearance in the night.”—Richardson.

Note 288,  p. 249.—Of the still Halls of Ishmonie.

For an account of Ishmonie, the petrified city in Upper Egypt, where it is said there are many statues of men, women, &c. to be seen to this day, see Perry’s View of the Levant.

Note 289,  p. 250.—And ne’er did saint of Issa gaze.—Jesus.

Note 290,  p. 251.—The death-flames that beneath him burn’d!

The Ghebers say that when Abraham, their great Prophet, was thrown into the fire by order of Nimrod, the flame turned instantly into “a bed of roses, where the child sweetly reposed.”—Tavernier.

Of their other Prophet, Zoroaster, there is a story told in Dion Prusæus, Orat. 36, that the love of wisdom and virtue leading him to a solitary life upon a mountain, he found it one day all in a flame, shining with celestial fire, out of which he came without any harm, and instituted certain sacrifices to God, who, he declared, then appeared to him.—See Patrick on Exodus, iii. 2.

Note 291,  p. 254.—A ponderous sea-horn hung, and blew.

“The shell called Siiankos, common to India, Africa, and the Mediterranean, and still used in many parts as a trumpet for blowing alarms or giving signals: it sends forth a deep and hollow sound.”—Pennant.

Note 292,  p. 255.—And the white ox-tails stream’d behind.

“The finest ornament for the horses is made of six large flying tassels of long white hair, taken out of the tails of wild oxen, that are to be found in some places of the Indies.”—Thevenot.

Note 293,  p. 257.—Sweet as the angel Israfil’s.

“The angel Israfil, who has the most melodious voice of all God’s creatures.”—Sale.

Note 294,  p. 261.—Wound slow, as through Golconda’s vale.

See Hoole upon the Story of Sinbad.

Note 295,  p. 265.—From the wild covert where he lay.

“In this thicket upon the banks of the Jordan several sorts of wild beasts are wont to harbour themselves, whose being washed out of the covert by the overflowings of the river gave occasion to that allusion of Jeremiah, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan.”—Maundrell’s Aleppo.

Note 296,  p. 275.—Like the wind of the south o’er a summer lute blowing.

“This wind (the Samoor) so softens the strings of lutes, that they can never be tuned while it lasts.”—Stephen’s Persia.

Note 297,  p. 275.—With nought but the sea-star to light up her tomb.

“One of the greatest curiosities found in the Persian Gulf is a fish which the English call Star-fish. It is circular, and at night very luminous, resembling the full moon surrounded by rays.”—Mirza Abu Taleb.

Note 298,  p. 275.—And still, when the merry date-season is burning.

For a description of the merriment of the date-time, of their work, their dances, and their return home from the palm-groves at the end of autumn with the fruits, see Kæmpfer, Amœnitat. Exot.

Note 299,  p. 276.—That ever the sorrowing sea-bird has wept.

Some naturalists have imagined that amber is a concretion of the tears of birds.—See Trevoux, Chambers.

Note 300,  p. 276.—We’ll seek where the sands of the Caspian are sparkling.

“The bay Kieselarke, which is otherwise called the Golden Bay, the sand whereof shines as fire.”—Struy.

Note 301,  p. 278.—The summary criticism of the Chabuk.—“The application of whips or rods.”—Dubois.

Note 302,  p. 279.—Chief Holder of the Girdle of Beautiful Forms.—Kæmpfer mentions such an officer among the attendants of the King of Persia, and calls him “formæ corporis estimator.” His business was, at stated periods, to measure the ladies of the Haram by a sort of regulation-girdle, whose limits it was not thought graceful to exceed. If any of them outgrew this standard of shape, they were reduced by abstinence till they came within proper bounds.

Note 303,  p. 279.—Forbidden River.—The Attock.

“Akbar on his way ordered a fort to be built upon the Nilab, which he called Attock, which means in the Indian language Forbidden; for, by the superstition of the Hindoos, it was held unlawful to cross that river.”—Dow’s Hindostan.

Note 304,  p. 280.—One genial star that rises nightly over their heads.—“The inhabitants of this country (Zinge) are never afflicted with sadness or melancholy; on this subject the Sheikh Abu-Al-Kheir-Azhari has the following distich:—

“‘Who is the man without care or sorrow, (tell) that I may rub my hand to him.

“‘(Behold) the Zingians, without care or sorrow, frolicksome with tipsiness and mirth.’

“The philosophers have discovered that the cause of this cheerfulness proceeds from the influence of the star Soheil or Canopus, which rises over them every night.”—Extract from a Geographical Persian Manuscript called Heft Aklim, or the Seven Climates, translated by W. Ouseley, Esq.

Note 305,  p. 281.—Lizards.—“The lizard Stellio. The Arabs call it Hardun. The Turks kill it, for they imagine that by declining the head it mimics them when they say their prayers.”—Hasselquist.

Note 306,  p. 281.—Royal Gardens.—For these particulars respecting Hussun Abdaul, I am indebted to the very interesting Introduction of Mr. Elphinstone’s work upon Caubul.

Note 307,  p. 281.—It was too delicious.—“As you enter at that Bazar, without the gate of Damascus, you see the Green Mosque, so called because it hath a steeple faced with green glazed bricks, which render it very resplendent; it is covered at top with a pavilion of the same stuff. The Turks say this mosque was made in that place, because Mahomet being come so far, would not enter the town, saying it was too delicious.”—Thevenot. This reminds one of the following pretty passage in Isaac Walton:—“When I sat last on this primrose bank, and looked down these meadows, I thought of them as Charles the Emperor did of the city of Florence, ‘that they were too pleasant to be looked on, but only on holidays.’”

Note 308,  p. 281.—The Sultana Nourmahal, the Light of the Haram.—Nourmahal signifies Light of the Haram. She was afterwards called Nourjehan, or the Light of the World.

Note 309,  p. 282.—The small shining fishes of which she was so fond.—See note, p. 367.

Note 310,  p. 282.—Haroun-al-Raschid and his fair mistress Marida.—“Haroun al Raschid, cinquième Khalife des Abassides, s’étant un jour brouillé avec une de ses maîtresses nommée Maridah, qu’il aimoit cependant jusqu’à l’excès, et cette mésintelligence ayant déjà duré quelque tems commença à s’ennuyer. Giafar Barmaki, son favori, qui s’en apperçut, commanda à Abbas ben Ahnaf, excellent poëte de ce tems-là, de composer quelques vers sur le sujet de cette brouillerie. Ce poëte exécuta l’ordre de Giafar, qiu fit chanter ces vers par Moussali en présence du Khalife, et ce Prince fut tellement touché de la tendresse des vers du poëte et de la douceur de la voix du musicien, qu’il alla aussitôt trouver Maridah, et fit sa paix avec elle.”—D’Herbelot.

Note 311,  p. 285.—With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave.

“The rose of Kashmire, for its brilliancy and delicacy of odour, has long been proverbial in the East.”—Forster.

Note 312,  p. 286.—Round the waist of some fair Indian dancer is ringing.

“Tied round her waist the zone of bells, that sounded with ravishing melody.”—Song of Jayadeva.

Note 313,  p. 286.—The young aspen-trees.

“The little isles in the Lake of Cachemire are set with arbours and large-leaved aspen-trees, slender and tall.”—Bernier.

Note 314,  p. 287.—Shines in through the mountainous portal that opes.

“The Tuckt Suliman, the name bestowed by the Mahometans on this hill, forms one side of a grand portal to the Lake.”—Forster.

Note 315,  p. 287.—The Valley holds its Feast of Roses.

“The Feast of Roses continues the whole time of their remaining in bloom.”—See Pietro de la Valle.

Note 316,  p. 287.—The Flow’ret of a hundred leaves.

“Gud sad berk, the Rose of a hundred leaves. I believe a particular species.”—Ouseley.

Note 317,  p. 287.—Behind the palms of Baramoule.—Bernier.

Note 318,  p. 288.—On Bela’s hills is less alive.

A place mentioned in the Toozek Jehangeery, or Memoirs of Jehanguire, where there is an account of the beds of saffron-flowers about Cashmere.

Note 319,  p. 289.—Sung from his lighted gallery.

“It is the custom among the women to employ the Maazeen to chaunt from the gallery of the nearest minaret, which on that occasion is illuminated, and the women assembled at the house respond at intervals with a ziraleet or joyous chorus.”—Russel.

Note 320,  p. 289.—From gardens, where the silken swing.

“The swing is a favourite pastime in the East, as promoting a circulation of air, extremely refreshing in those sultry climates.”—Richardson.

“The swings are adorned with festoons. This pastime is accompanied with the music of voices and of instruments, hired by the masters of the swings.”—Thevenot.

Note 321,  p. 289.—Among the tents that line the way.

“At the keeping of the Feast of Roses we beheld an infinite number of tents pitched, with such a crowd of men, women, boys, and girls, with music, dances,” &c. &c.—Herbert.

Note 322,  p. 290.—An answer in song to the kiss of each wave.

“An old commentator of the Chou-King says, the ancients having remarked that a current of water made some of the stones near its banks send forth a sound, they detached some of them, and being charmed with the delightful sound they emitted, constructed King or musical instruments of them.”—Grosier.

This miraculous quality has been attributed also to the shore of Attica. “Hujus littus, ait Capella, concentum musicum illisis terræ undis reddere, quod propter tantam eruditionis vim puto dictum.”—Ludov. Vives in Augustin. de Civitat. Dei, lib. xviii. c. 8.

Note 323,  p. 290.—So felt the magnificent Son of Acbar.

Jehanguire was the son of the Great Acbar.

Note 324,  p. 292.—Yet playful as Peris just loos’d from their cages.

In the wars of the Dives with the Peris, whenever the former took the latter prisoners, “they shut them up in iron cages, and hung them on the highest trees. Here they were visited by their companions, who brought them the choicest odours.”—Richardson.

Note 325,  p. 293.—Of the flowers of this planet—though treasures were there.

In the Malay language the same word signifies women and flowers.

Note 326,  p. 293.—He saw that City of Delight.

The capital of Shadukiam. See note, p. 357.

Note 327,  p. 295.—He sits, with flow’rets fetter’d round.

See the representation of the Eastern Cupid, pinioned closely round with wreaths of flowers, in Picart’s Cérémonies Religieuses.

Note 328,  p. 295.—Lose all their glory when he flies.

“Among the birds of Tonquin is a species of goldfinch, which sings so melodiously that it is called the Celestial bird. Its wings, when it is perched, appear variegated with beautiful colours, but when it flies they lose all their splendour.”—Grosier.

Note 329,  p. 296.—Whose pinion knows no resting place.

“As these birds on the Bosphorus are never known to rest, they are called by the French ‘les âmes damnées.’”—Dalloway.

Note 330,  p. 296.—If there his darling rose is not.

“You may place a hundred handfuls of fragrant herbs and flowers before the nightingale, yet he wishes not, in his constant heart, for more than the sweet breath of his beloved rose.”—Jami.

Note 331,  p. 298.—From the great Mantra, which around.

“He is said to have found the great Mantra, spell or talisman, through which he ruled over the elements and spirits of all denominations.”—Wilford.

Note 332,  p. 298.—To the gold gems of Afric.

“The gold jewels of Jinnie, which are called by the Arabs El Herrez, from the supposed charm they contain.”—Jackson.

Note 333,  p. 298.—To keep him from the Siltim’s harm.

“A demon, supposed to haunt woods, &c. in a human shape.”—Richardson.

Note 334,  p. 298.—Her Selim’s smile to Nourmahal.

The name of Jehanguire before his accession to the throne.

Note 335,  p. 300.—Anemones and Seas of Gold.

“Hemasagara, or the Sea of Gold, with flowers of the brightest gold colour.”—Sir W. Jones.

Note 336,  p. 300.—Their buds on Camadeva’s quiver.

“This tree (the Nagacesara) is one of the most delightful on earth, and the delicious odour of its blossoms justly gives them a place in the quiver of Camadeva, or the God of Love.”—Id.

Note 337,  p. 300.—Is call’d the Mistress of the Night.

“The Malayans style the tube-rose (Polianthes tuberosa) Sandal Malam, or the Mistress of the Night.”—Pennant.

Note 338,  p. 300.—That wander through Zamara’s shades.

The people of the Batta country in Sumatra (of which Zamara is one of the ancient names), “when not engaged in war, lead an idle, inactive life, passing the day in playing on a kind of flute, crowned with garlands of flowers, among which the globe-amaranthus, a native of the country, mostly prevails.”—Marsden.

Note 339,  p. 300.—From the divine Amrita tree.

“The largest and richest sort (of the Jambu, or rose-apple) is called Amrita, or immortal, and the mythologists of Tibet apply the same word to a celestial tree, bearing ambrosial fruit.”—Sir W. Jones.

Note 340,  p. 301.—Down to the basil tuft, that waves.

Sweet basil, called Rayhan in Persia, and generally found in church-yards.

“The women in Egypt go, at least two days in the week, to pray and weep at the sepulchres of the dead; and the custom then is to throw upon the tombs a sort of herb, which the Arabs call rihan, and which is our sweet basil.”—Maillet, Lett. 10.

Note 341,  p. 301.—To scent the desert and the dead.

“In the Great Desert are found many stalks of lavender and rosemary.”—Asiat. Res.

Note 342,  p. 303.—That blooms on a leafless bough.

“The almond-tree, with white flowers, blossoms on the bare branches.”—Hasselquist.

Note 343,  p. 303.—Inhabit the mountain-herb, that dyes.

An herb on Mount Libanus, which is said to communicate a yellow golden hue to the teeth of the goats and other animals that graze upon it.

Niebuhr thinks this may be the herb which the Eastern alchymists look to as a means of making gold. “Most of those alchymical enthusiasts think themselves sure of success, if they could but find out the herb, which gilds the teeth and gives a yellow colour to the flesh of the sheep that eat it. Even the oil of this plant must be of a golden colour. It is called Haschischat ed dab.”

Father Jerom Dandini, however, asserts that the teeth of the goats at Mount Libanus are of a silver colour; and adds, “This confirms to me that which I observed in Candia: to wit, that the animals that live on Mount Ida eat a certain herb, which renders their teeth of a golden colour; which, according to my judgment, cannot otherwise proceed than from the mines which are under ground.”—Dandini, Voyage to Mount Libanus.

Note 344,  p. 304.—Of Azab blew, was full of scents.—The myrrh country.

Note 345,  p. 304.—Where Love himself, of old, lay sleeping.

“This idea (of deities living in shells) was not unknown to the Greeks, who represent the young Nerites, one of the Cupids, as living in shells on the shores of the Red Sea.”—Wilford.

Note 346,  p. 305.—From Chindara’s warbling fount I come.

“A fabulous mountain, where instruments are said to be constantly playing.”—Richardson.

Note 347,  p. 307.—The cinnamon-seed from grove to grove.

“The Pompadour pigeon is the species, which, by carrying the fruit of the cinnamon to different places, is a great disseminator of this valuable tree.”—See Brown’s Illustr. Tab. 19.

Note 348,  p. 307.—The past, the present, and future of pleasure.

“Whenever our pleasure arises from a succession of sounds, it is a perception of a complicated nature, made up of a sensation of the present sound or note, and an idea or remembrance of the foregoing, while their mixture and concurrence produce such a mysterious delight, as neither could have produced alone. And it is often heightened by an anticipation of the succeeding notes. Thus Sense, Memory and Imagination are conjunctively employed.”—Gerrard on Taste.

This is exactly the Epicurean theory of Pleasure, as explained by Cicero:—“Quocirca corpus gaudere tamdiu, dum præsentem sentiret voluptatem: animum et præsentem percipere pariter cum corpore et prospicere venientem, nec præteritam præterfluere sinere.”

Madame de Staël accounts upon the same principle for the gratification we derive from rhyme:—“Elle est l’image de l’espérance et du souvenir. Un son nous fait désirer celui qui doit lui répondre, et quand le second retentit il nous rappelle celui qui vient de nous échapper.”