[38]. The term kassis is applied in Egypt indiscriminately to Christian clergymen of every sect and denomination.
[39]. This term, kiahya, now common all over Turkey, is a corruption of the Persian word ket-khoda, and signifies “master of the house,” “vicegerent,” &c. The kiahya in Egypt is next in rank to the viceroy.
[40]. Shoobra, a very pretty garden and palace, built and occupied by Mohammed Ali; it is about three miles from Cairo, on the bank of the river.
[41]. A canjah is a Nile boat, much smaller and lighter than a dahabiah.
[42]. A piastre is about 2½d.
[43]. Where in Europe it is customary to say as “white as wool” or “white as snow,” the Orientals say “white as camphor.” The “camphor-neck” of a beauty is an image constantly recurring in Arabic poetry.
[44]. Musàttah, a camel-litter for carrying two persons.
[45]. A shibriah, a camel-litter for a single person.
[46]. A perpetual fountain of the purest water in the Mohammedan Paradise.
[47]. The Horseman’s Gap is a singular cleft in the high rocks which met at the end of the plain, just leaving a passage wide enough for horsemen to pass in single file.