FOOTNOTES:
[236] I may suffer in public estimation for my differing in opinion from this accomplished traveller and most estimable man; but I cannot, on that account, abstain from the expression of my dissent. Our difference, I think, may be thus explained. He conformed, in a great degree, to the habits of the Arabs; but not to such an extent as I consider necessary to obtain from them that confidence in his sympathy which would induce them to lay open to him their character; and when a man is often treated with coldness and reserve, I doubt whether the people from whom he experiences such treatment can be judged by him with strict impartiality. To be received on terms of equality by Arabs of the more polished classes, an undeviating observance of their code of etiquette is absolutely indispensable: but Burckhardt, I have been assured, often violated this code by practices harmless enough to our notions and probably also in the opinion of the Arabs of the Desert, but extremely offensive to the people who enjoyed the least share of his esteem: his most intimate acquaintances in Cairo generally refused, in speaking of him, to designate him by the title of "sheykh" which he had adopted; and yet the heaviest charge that I heard brought against him was his frequent habit of whistling!—This fact has been mentioned, as corroborating an observation of the same kind, by Mr. Urquhart ("Spirit of the East," i. 417, 418), all of whose opinions relating to the East, expressed in that work, and especially those regarding the characteristics of the Eastern mind, are entitled to the highest respect.
[237] Kitáb el-´Onwán fee Mekáïd en-Niswán, a work on the stratagems of women (MS.).
[238] This word slightly varied (changed to Ḍa´eefih) bears another meaning, namely, "his weak one:" the final vowel being suppressed by the rule of waḳf.
[239] Kitáb el-´Onwán.
[240] The Arabs in general entertain a prejudice against blue eyes; a prejudice said to have arisen from the great number of blue-eyed persons among certain of their northern enemies.
[241] In another analysis of the same kind, it is said that four should be short,—the hands, the feet, the tongue, and the teeth—but this is metaphorically speaking; the meaning is, that these members should be kept within their proper bounds. (Kitáb el-´Onwán.)
[242] An unnamed author quoted by El-Isḥáḳee, in his account of the ´Abbásee Khaleefeh El-Mutawekkil.
[243] Kitáb el-´Onwán.
[244] By sending with a letter the silk strings of her hair, a lady testifies the most abject submission. The same meaning is conveyed in a more forcible manner by sending the hair itself. Thus when Cairo was besieged by the Franks in the year of the Flight 564 (A.D. 1168), El-´Áḍid, the last Fáṭimee Khaleefeh, sent letters to Noor-ed-Deen Maḥmood, Sulṭán of Syria, imploring succour, and with them sent his women's hair to show their subjection and his own. (Ibn Esh-Shihneh). [So too El-Maḳreezee, with a slight variation. It was in this siege that the old town now called erroneously Miṣr el-´aṭeeḳah was burnt by order of the Wezeer Sháwir, the conflagration lasting fifty-four days. (Khiṭaṭ, account of the ruin of El-Fusṭáṭ and reign of El-´Áḍid.) E. S. P.]
[245] An engraving of a crown of this description, and another of one of a more common kind, may be seen in my work on the Modern Egyptians, Appendix A.
[246] Kitáb el-´Onwán.
[247] El-Imám El-Jara´ee, in his book entitled "Shir´at el-Islám."
[248] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 2.
[249] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 79.
[250] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 1.
[251] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 1.
[252] By way of exception, however, on the woman's side, my sheykh [Moḥammad ´Eiyád Eṭ-Ṭantáwee] writes:—"Many persons reckon marrying a second time among the greatest of disgraceful actions. This opinion is most common in the country-towns and villages; and the relations of my mother are thus characterized, so that a woman of them, when her husband dieth while she is young, or divorceth her while she is young, passeth her life, however long it may be, in widowhood, and never marrieth a second time."
[253] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 1.
[254] Mir-át ez-Zemán, events of the year above mentioned.
[255] Idem, Proverbs of the Arabs; and my Lexicon, voce "khaṭaba."
[256] The izár, or eezár (for the word is written in two different ways), is a piece of drapery commonly worn by Arab women when they appear in public. It is about two yards or more in width (according to the height of the wearer), and three yards in length; one edge of it being drawn from behind, over the upper part of the head and forehead, and secured by a band sewed inside, the rest hangs down behind and on each side to the ground, or nearly so, and almost entirely envelops the person; the two ends being held so as nearly to meet in front. Thus it conceals every other part of the dress excepting a small portion of a very loose gown (which is another of the articles of walking or riding apparel), and the face-veil. It is now generally made of white calico, but a similar covering of black silk for the married, and of white silk for the unmarried, is now worn by women of the higher and middle classes, called a ḥabarah.
It appears that the kind of face-veil, called in Arabic ḳináạ is a piece of muslin, about a yard or more in length, and somewhat less in width, a portion of which is placed over the head, beneath the izár, the rest hanging down in front, to the waist, or thereabout, and entirely concealing the face. I have often seen Arab women, particularly those of the Wahhábees, wearing veils of this kind composed of printed muslin, completely concealing their features, yet of sufficiently loose fabric to admit of their seeing their way. But the more common kind of Arab face-veil is a long strip of white muslin, or of a kind of black crape, covering the whole of the face excepting the eyes, and reaching nearly to the feet. It is suspended at the top by a narrow band, which passes up the forehead, and which is sewed, as are also the two upper corners of the veil, to a band that is tied round the head. This veil is called burḳo´. The black kind is often ornamented with gold coins, false pearls, etc., attached to the upper part. It is not so genteel as the white veil, unless for a lady in mourning.
[257] Chap. iv. 26, 27.
[258] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 4.
[259] Idem, section 6.
[260] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, i. 229.
[261] Idem, i. 223.
[262] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 78.
[263] Idem, ii. 79.
[264] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 4.
[265] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 8.
[266] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 8.
[267] Ibid.; and Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 105.
[268] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 104.
[269] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, loco laudato; and Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 89.
[270] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, 1.1.; Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 89.
[271] Account of the Emeer Moḥammad Agha El-Bároodee, obituary, year 1205.
[272] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 8.
[273] Nuzhet el-Mutaämmil, section 7.
[274] Modern Egyptians, ch. vi.
[275] "The Protestants of Hungary admit the plea of 'irrevocabile odium.'"—Urquhart's Spirit of the East, ii. 416.
[276] A religious lady once asked me if I so conformed with the manners of the Easterns as to eat in their "beastly manner." I replied, "Do not call it a 'beastly manner:' call it the manner of our Lord and his Apostles." But some excuse may be made in this case. I was determined, when I first went to the East, never to conform to the practice of eating with the fingers when I could avoid it; however, after I had first seen the manner of doing this, I immediately adopted the custom, and continued it.
[277] Mishkát el-Maṣábeeḥ, ii. 81.
[278] Selections from the Ḳur-án, 1st. ed., p. 59.
[279] Urquhart's Spirit of the East, ii. 415-416. See the two chapters on "the life of the Harem" and "State of Women," which I think the most valuable portion of the book.
[280] Modern Egyptians, ch. vi.
[281] A fellow-wife is called, in Arabic, "ḍarrah," a word derived from "ḍarar," which signifies "injury," because fellow-wives usually experience injurious treatment, one from another. The word "ḍarrah," in vulgar or colloquial Arabic (by substituting a soft for an emphatic d, and u for a), is pronounced "durrah," which properly signifies "a parrot." "The life of a fellow-wife is bitter" ("´eeshet eḍ-ḍurrah murrah") is a common proverb. [Eṭ-Ṭantáwee.]
[282] This is the usual way of informing a person that another is dead. Many say in the same case, "Mayest thou live!" and then being asked, "Who is dead?" mention the name.
[283] El-Jabartee's History, vol. i., obituary of the year 1188.