[17] The word peri, in the Persian language, signifies that beautiful race of creatures which constitutes the link between angels and men.
[18] Sheiks are the chiefs of the societies of dervishes; cadis, the magistrate of a town or city.—Notes on Vathek, p. 322.
[19] A favorite story is related of the benevolence of one of the sons of Ali. In serving at table, a slave had inadvertently dropped a dish of scalding broth on his master. The heedless wretch fell prostrate to deprecate his punishment, and repeated a verse of the Koran: "Paradise is for those who command their anger." "I am not angry." "And for those who pardon offenses." "I pardon your offense." "And for those who return good for evil." "I give you your liberty, and four hundred pieces of silver."—Gibbon's Decline and Fall.
[20] Chess is said to have had its origin in the East, and to have been introduced into Europe after the Crusades.
[21] This same power of changing the form has found a place in ancient and modern story. The Proteus of heathen mythology ever found means of safety and protection by his sudden assumption of some new form and shape.
[22] The erection of these tombs over the supposed effigy, or the real remains, of the deceased, is often mentioned in these tales. The same type of tomb, with its dome or cupola, prevails throughout. A structure of a similar fashion is celebrated in history as the Taj Mahal at Agra, erected by the Shah Jehan, in memory of his queen, Mumtaz Mahal. It stands on a marble terrace over the Jamna, and is surrounded by extensive gardens. The building itself on the outside is of white marble, with a high cupola and four minarets. In the center of the inside is a lofty hall of a circular form under a dome, in the middle of which is the tomb, inclosed within an open screen of elaborate tracery formed of marble and mosaics. The materials are lapis lazuli, jasper, bloodstone, a sort of golden stone (not well understood), agates, carnelian, jade, and various other stones. A single flower in the screen contains a hundred stones; "and yet," says Bishop Heber; "though everything is finished like an ornament for a drawing-room chimney-piece, the general effect is rather solemn and impressive than gaudy."—Elphinstone's India, p. 528; and Asiatic Researches, Vol. V, p. 434.
[23] Sugar has been traced to the Arabic "succar," which is the Persian "shachar." The sugar-cane is a jointed reed, crowned with leaves or blades; it contains a soft, pithy substance, full of sweet juice. The people of Egypt eat a great quantity of the green sugar-canes, and make a coarse loaf-sugar, and also sugar-candy and some very fine sugar, sent to Constantinople to the Grand Signor, which is very dear, being made only for that purpose.—Dr. Richard Pocock, Travels, Vol. I, p. 204.
[24] These tales were written shortly after the conquest of Persia, the riches of which country may be reflected in these narratives. "The naked robbers of the desert were suddenly enriched, beyond the measure of their hope and knowledge. Each chamber revealed a new chamber secreted with art, or ostentatiously displayed; the gold and silver, the various wardrobes and precious furniture, surpassed (says Abulfeda) the estimate of fancy or numbers, and another historian defines the untold and almost infinite mass by the fabulous computation of thousands of thousands of pieces of gold."—Gibbon's Decline and Fall.
[25] Bagdad was founded in the 145th year of the Hejira or flight of Mohammed to Medina, 767. It was destroyed by Hulakoo, grandson of Gengis Khan, in the 656th of the Hejira, A.D. 1277, when the dynasty of the Ambassides was terminated.
[26] "Khan, or caravansary, a large building of a quadrangular form, being one story in height. The ground floor serves for warehouses and stables, while the upper is used for lodgings. They always contain a fountain, and have cook shops and other conveniences attached to them in town. The erection of them is considered meritorious both among Hindus and Mussulmans. They are erected on the sides of public highways, and are then only a set of bare rooms and outhouses."—Popular Cyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 108.