[206] This must not be understood of sealingwax，which，however，is of ancient date. The Egyptians （Herod. ii. 38） used 'sealing earth'（ ？ ） probably clay，impressed with a signet （ ）；the Greeks mudclay （ ）；and the Romans first cretula and then wax （Beckmann）. Mediaeval Europe had beeswax tempered with Venice turpentine and coloured with cinnabar or similar material. The modern sealingwax，whose distinctive is shelllac，was brought by the Dutch from India to Europe；and the earliest seals date from about A.D. 1560. They called it Ziegellak，whence the German Siegellack，the French preferring cireacacheter，as distinguished from cireasceller，the softer material. The use of sealingwax in India dates from old times and the material，though coarse and unsightly，is still preferred by AngloIndians because it resists heat whereas the best English softens like pitch.
[207] Evidently referring to the runaway Abu alHasan，not to the sheMercury.
[208] An unmarried man is not allowed to live in a respectable quarter of a Moslem city unless he takes such precaution. Lane （Mod. Egypt. passim） has much to say on this point；and my excellent friend the late Professor Spitta at Cairo found the native prejudice very troublesome.
[209] Arab. 'Ya fulan'=O certain person （fulano in Span. and Port.） a somewhat contemptuous address.
[210] Mr. Payne remarks，'These verses apparently relate to Aboulhusn，but it is possible that they may be meant to refer to Shemsennehar.'（iii. 80.）
[211] Arab. and Pers 'Bulur'（vulg. billaur） retaining the venerable tradition of the Belus river. In AlHariri （Ass. of Halwan） it means crystal and there is no need of proposing to translate it by onyx or to identify it with the Greek ，the beryl.
[212] The door is usually shut with a wooden bolt.
[213] Arab. 'Ritanah，'from 'Ratan，'speaking any tongue not Arabic，the allusion being to foreign mercenaries，probably Turks. In later days Turkish was called Muwalla'，a pied horse，from its mixture of languages.
[214] This is the rule；to guard against the guetapens.
[215] Arab. 'Walidati，'used when speaking to one not of the family in lieu of the familiar 'Ummi'=my mother. So the father is Walid=the begetter.
[216] This is one of the many euphemistic formulae for such occasions： they usually begin 'May thy head live.'etc.
[217] Arab. 'Kanun，'an instrument not unlike the Austrian zither；it is illustrated in Lane （ii. 77）.
[218] This is often done，the merit of the act being transferred to the soul of the deceased.
[219] The two amourists were martyrs；and their amours，which appear exaggerated to the Western mind，have many parallels in the East. The story is a hopeless affair of love；with only one moral （if any be wanted） viz.，there may be too much of a good thing. It is given very concisely in the Bul. Edit. vol. i.；and more fully in the Mac. Edit. aided in places by the Bresl. （ii.320） and the Calc. （ii. 230）.
[220] Lane is in error （vol. ii. 78） when he corrects this to 'Shah Zeman'；the name is fanciful and intended to be old Persian，on the 'weight'of Kahraman. The Bul. Edit. has by misprint 'Shahraman.'
[221] The 'topothesia'is worthy of Shakespeare's day.
'Khalidan'is evidently a corruption of 'Khalidatani'（for Khalidat），the Eternal，as Ibn Wardi calls the Fortunate Islands，or Canaries，which owe both their modern names to the classics of Europe. Their present history dates from A.D. 1385，unless we accept the DieppeRouen legend of Labat which would place the discovery in A.D. 1326. I for one thoroughly believe in the priority on the West African Coast，of the gallant descendants of the Northmen.
[222] Four wives are allowed by Moslem law and for this reason. If you marry one wife she holds herself your equal，answers you and 'gives herself airs'；two are always quarrelling and making a hell of the house；three are 'no company'and two of them always combine against the nicest to make her hours bitter.
Four are company，they can quarrel and 'make it up'amongst themselves，and the husband enjoys comparative peace. But the Moslem is bound by his law to deal equally with the four，each must have her dresses her establishment and her night，like her sister wives. The number is taken from the Jews （Arbah Turim Ev.
Hazaer，i.） 'the wise men have given good advice that a man should not marry more than four wives.'Europeans，knowing that Moslem women are cloistered and appear veiled in public，begin with believing them to be mere articles of luxury，and only after long residence they find out that nowhere has the sex so much real liberty and power as in the Moslem East. They can possess property and will it away without the husband's leave： they can absent themselves from the house for a month without his having a right to complain；and they assist in all his counsels for the best of reasons： a man can rely only on his wives and children，being surrounded by rivals who hope to rise by his ruin. As regards political matters the Circassian women of Constantinople really rule the Sultanate and there soignez la femme！ is the first lesson of getting on in the official world.
[223] This twobow prayer is common on the bridenight；and at all times when issue is desired.
[224] The older Camaralzaman='Moon of the age.'Kamar is the moon between her third and twentysixth day： Hilal during the rest of the month： Badr （plur. Budur whence the name of the Princess） is the full moon.
[225] Arab 'Ra'aya'plur. of 'Ra'iyat'our AngloIndian Ryot，lit. a liege，a subject；secondarily a peasant，a Fellah.
[226] Another audacious parody of the Moslem 'testification'to the one God，and to Mohammed the Apostle.
[227] Showing how long ago forts were armed with metal plates which we have applied to warships only of late years.
[228] The comparison is abominably truein the East.
