[88]. See the Chapter on music.
[89]. This term is a corruption of “fakeeh,” which latter appellation is generally given in Egypt only to a person deeply versed in religion and law; a man who merely recites the Kur-án, etc., professionally, or who teaches others to do so, being commonly called a “fikee.”
[90]. Friday, being the sabbath of the Muslims, is a holiday to the school-boys and fikee.
[91]. The cubit employed in measuring Egyptian cloths is equal to twenty-two inches and two-thirds.
[92]. The usual punishment is beating on the soles of the feet with a palm-stick.
[93]. The Arabic letters are often used as numerals.
[94]. I have since found an anecdote almost exactly similar to the above in the Cairo edition of the “Thousand and One Nights:” therefore either my informant’s account is not strictly true, or the man alluded to by him was, in the main, an imitator: the latter is not improbable, as I have been credibly informed of several similar imitations, and of one which I know to be a fact.
[95]. The young daughters of persons of the middle classes are sometimes instructed with the boys in a public school; but they are usually veiled, and hold no intercourse with the boys. I have often seen a well-dressed girl reading the Kur-án in a boys’ school.
[96]. Ch. 112.—In quoting passages in the Kur-án, I have sometimes followed Sale’s translation, to the general fidelity of which I willingly add my testimony. I should, however, mention that some of his explanatory notes are unauthorized and erroneous; as, for instance, with respect to the laws of inheritance; on which subject his version of the text also is faulty. When necessary, I have distinguished the verses by numbers. In doing this I had originally adopted the divisions made by Marracci, but have since made the numbers to agree with those in the late edition of the Arabic text by Fluegel, which, from its superior accuracy, is likely to supersede the former editions.
[97]. Kur-án, ch. iii., vv. 40-42.