[52] Bakbûḳ is a pitcher with a narrow spout.
[53] Mar Mattie is a Syrian monastery about seven hours’ ride east of Mosul, generally known by the name of Šeiḫ Mattie, in accordance with the general custom of sheltering a Christian saint beneath a Moslem title. Elijah is known as Al-Ḫuder, “the green one.” Aphrates was bishop of Šeiḫ Mattie. The church of this monastery is a large building, chiefly interesting as containing the tomb of the great Bar Hebraeus, known as Abu-l-Faraj, who was ordained at Tripolis, and became in 1246 A. D. Metropolitan of Mosul. He lies buried, with his brother Barsom, in the “Beth ḳadišeh” (sanctuary) of the church, and over them is placed the inscription: “This is the grave of Mar Gregorias, and of Mar Barsome his brother, the children of the Hebrew, on Mount Elpep” (the Syriac name for Jabal Maḳlûb).
[54] Kani in Kurdish means a spring; zarr, yellow. In Kurdish, as in Persian, the adjective usually follows the modified noun; cf. Tartibi Jadid, Ta‘alimi Faresi, The New Method for Teaching Persian (in the Turkish language, ed. Kasbar, Constantinople, A. H. 1312), p. 18.
[55] Jawîš is a Turkish word, signifying a sergeant.
[56] This ceremony, as well as the names ‘Arafat, Zamzam, etc., seems to be a mere copy of the Meccah Pilgrimage. ‘Arafât, “The Mount of Recognition,” is situated twelve miles from Mecca, a place where the pilgrims stay on the ninth day of the day of the pilgrimage, and recite the midday and afternoon prayer. The Mohammedan legend says, that when our first parents forfeited heaven for eating wheat, they were cast down from the Paradise, Adam fell on the Isle of Ceylon, and Eve near Jiddah (the port of Mecca) in Arabia; and that, after separation of 200 years, Adam was conducted by the Angel Gabriel to a mountain near Mecca, where he found and knew his wife, the mountain being then named ‘Arafat, “Recognition.”
[57] The god Nisroch of Scripture, II Kings 19:37; Isa. 37: 38.
[58] A superstitious name signifying an ill omen.
[59] That is, public prayers like those of the Mohammedans and of the Christians; cf. Al Mašrik, II, 313.
[60] The text has “her hand.”
[61] While the Yezidis venerate ‘Abd al-ḳâdir of Jîlân, the Nusairis curse him; cf. J A O S, VIII, 274.