An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians

by Edward William Lane

[338]. That is, towards the niche which marks the direction of Mekkeh.

[339]. The twelfth century of the Flight commenced on the 16th or 17th of October, A.D. 1688.

[340]. It is the general opinion of our chronologers, that the first day of the Muslim era of “the Flight” (in Arabic, “el-Hijrah,” or, as it is pronounced by most of the Egyptians, “el-Higreh,” more correctly translated “the Emigration”) was Friday, the 16th of July, A.D. 622. It must be remarked, that the Arabs generally commence each month on the night on which the new moon is first actually seen; and this night is, in most cases, the second, but sometimes and in some places the third, after the true period of the new moon: if, however, the moon is not seen on the second or third night, the month is commenced on the latter. The new moon of July, A.D. 622, happened between five and six o’clock in the morning of the 14th: therefore the 16th was most probably the first day of the era. This era does not commence from the day on which the Prophet departed from Mekkeh (as supposed by most of our authors who have mentioned this subject), but from the first day of the moon or month of Moharram preceding that event. It is said that Mohammad, after he had remained three days concealed in a cave near Mekkeh, with Aboo-Bekr began his journey, or “the flight,” to El-Medeeneh, on the ninth day of the third month (Rabeea el-Owwal), sixty-eight days after the commencement of the era. Thus the first two months are made of thirty days each, which is often the case when the calculation from the actual sight of the new moon is followed; and the flight itself, from the cave, may be inferred to have commenced on the 22nd of September. It may be added, that this record, by showing that each of the first two months consisted of thirty days, strengthens the supposition that the era commenced on the 16th of July. On the eve of the 15th, the moon was not visible.

[341]. Consequently the time of noon according to Mohammadan reckoning, on any particular day, subtracted from twelve, gives the apparent time of sunset, on that day, according to European reckoning.

[342]. The periods of the ’eshë, daybreak, and ’asr, are here given according to the reckoning most commonly followed in Egypt. (See the chapter on religion and laws.) Mo. T. denotes Mohammadan Time: Eur. T., European Time.

[343]. More than a hundred books have been printed at this press: most of them for the use of the military, naval, and civil servants of the government.

[344]. As the Greeks believed in the age of Homer and Hesiod.

[345]. It has been justly remarked, by Baron Hammer-Purgstall, that the present chapter of this work is very deficient. I should gladly have made its contents more ample, had I not felt myself obliged to consult the taste of the general reader, upon whose patience I fear I have already trespassed to too great an extent by the insertion of much matter calculated to interest only Orientalists. With respect to recent innovations, I have made but few and brief remarks in this work, in consequence of my having found the lights of European science almost exclusively confined to those servants of the Government, who have been compelled to study under Frank instructors, and European customs adopted by scarcely any persons excepting a few Turks. Some Egyptians who had studied for a few years in France declared to me that they could not instil any of the notions which they had there acquired even into the minds of their most intimate friends.

[346]. I measured the height of a zóba’ah, with a sextant, at Thebes, under circumstances which insured a very near approximation to perfect accuracy (observing its altitude, from an elevated spot, at the precise moment when it passed through, and violently agitated, a distant group of palm-trees), and found it to be seven hundred and fifty feet. I think that several zóba’ahs which I have seen were of greater height. Others, which I measured at the same place, were between five hundred and seven hundred feet in height.

[347]. According to some writers, the Gánn are the least powerful class of Genii.