[29] "Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, slender and delicate."—Poem of Amru.
[30] Pichula, used anciently for arrows by the Persians.
[31] The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it.—"Nothing can be more beautiful than the appearance of this plant in flower during the rains on the banks of rivers, where it is usually interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias."—Sir W. Jones..
[32] The oriental plane. "The chenar is a delightful tree; its bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; and its foliage, which grows in a tuft at the summit, is of a bright green."—Morier's Travels..
[33] The burning fountains of Brahma near Chittogong, esteemed as holy.—Turner.
[34] China.
[35] "The name of tulip is said to be of Turkish extraction, and given to the flower on account of its resembling a turban."—Beckmann's History of Inventions.
[36] "The inhabitants of Bucharia wear a round cloth bonnet, shaped much after the Polish fashion, having a large fur border. They tie their kaftans about the middle with a girdle of a kind of silk crape, several times round the body."—Account of Independent Tartary, in Pinkerton's Collection.
[37] In the war of the Caliph Mahadi against the Empress Irene, for an account of which vide Gibbon, vol. x.
[38] When Soliman travelled, the eastern writers say, "He had a carpet of green silk on which his throne was placed, being of a prodigious length and breadth, and sufficient for all his forces to stand upon, the men placing themselves on his right hand, and the spirits on his left; and that when all were in order, the wind, at his command, took up the carpet, and transported it, with all that were upon it, wherever he pleased; the army of birds at the same time flying over their heads, and forming a kind of canopy to shade them from the sun."—Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 214, note.