[FN#328] Arab.  “Tannur,” here the large earthern jar with a cover of the same material, round which the fire is built.

[FN#329] Being a musician the hero of the tale was also a pederast.

[FN#330] Here Mr. Payne supplies “Then they returned and sat down” (apparently changing places).  He is quite correct in characterising the Bresl.  Edit. as corrupt and “fearfully incoherent.”  All we can make certain of in this passage is that the singer mistook the Persian for his white slave (Mameluke).

[FN#331] Arab.  “Bazaka,” normally used in the sense of spitting; here the saliva might be applied for facilitating insertion.

[FN#332] In Persian “Award o burd,"=brought and bore away, gen. applied to the movement of the man as in the couplet,

     Chenin burd o award o award o burd,
     Kih dayeh pas-i-pardeh zi ghussah murd.

     He so came and went, went and came again,
     That Nurse who lay curtained to faint was fain.

[FN#333] Alluding to the fighting rams which are described by every Anglo-Indian traveller.  They strike with great force, amply sufficient to crush the clumsy hand which happens to be caught between the two foreheads.  The animals are sometimes used for Fal or consulting futurity:  the name of a friend is given to one and that of a foe to the other; and the result of the fight suggests victory or defeat for the men.

[FN#334] Arab.  “Jauhar"=the jewel, the essential nature of a substance.  Compare M. Alcofribas’ “Abstraction of the Quintessence.”

[FN#335] In parts of the Moslem world Al-Jabr=the tyranny, is the equivalent of what we call “civil law,” as opposed to Al-Shari’ah, or Holy Law, the religious code; Diwan al-Jabr (Civil Court) being the contrary of the Mahkamah or Kazi’s tribunal.  See “First Footsteps in East Africa,” p. 126.

[FN#336] i.e. in offering thee the kingship.

[FN#337] i.e. “a man of fourscore.”

[FN#338] i.e. outside the city.

[FN#339] See the conclusion of the story.

[FN#340] i.e.  I have said my say.

[FN#341] Arab.  “Al-Mutabattil,” usually=one who forsakes the world.  The Katarat alNaysan or rain-drops in the month Naysan (April) produce pearls when falling into the oyster-shells and poison in the serpent’s mouth.  The allusions to them are innumerable in Persian poetry, and the idea gives rise to a host of moralities more or less insipid.

[FN#342] This is the general idea concerning the diamond in all countries where the gem is dug, but I never heard it of the pearl.

[FN#343] Arab.  “Faras,” properly a mare; but the writer begins by using the feminine, and then employs the masculine.  It is an abominable text.

[FN#344] Arab.  “Rutab wa manazil,” may also mean “stations and mansions (of the moon and planets).”  The double entendre was probably intended.