[25]. Arab. "Tibn"; straw crushed under the sledge: the hay of Egypt, Arabia, Syria, etc. The old country custom is to pull up the corn by handfuls from the roots, leaving the land perfectly bare: hence the "plucking up" of Hebrew Holy Writ. The object is to preserve every atom of "Tibn."
[26]. Arab. "Yá Aftah": Al-Aftah is an epithet of the bull, also of the chameleon.
[27]. Arab. "Balid," a favourite Egyptianism often pleasantly confounded with "Wali" (a Santon); hence the latter comes to mean "an innocent," a "ninny."
[28]. From the Calc. Edit., Vol. I., p. 29.
[29]. Arab. "Abu Yakzán" is hardly equivalent with "Père l'Eveillé."
[30]. In Arab. the wa (وَ) is the sign of parenthesis.
[31]. In the nearer East the light little plough is carried a-field by the bull or ass.
[32]. Ocymum basilicum, the "royal herb," so much prized all over the East, especially in India, where, under the name of "Tulsi," it is a shrub sacred to the merry god Krishna. I found the verses in a MS. copy of the Nights.
[33]. Arab. "Sadaf," the Kauri, or cowrie, brought from the Maldive and Lakdive Archipelago. The Kámús describes this "Wada'" or Concha Veneris as "a white shell [whence to "shell out">[ which is taken out of the sea, the fissure of which is white like that of the date-stone. It is hung about the neck to avert the evil eye." The pearl in Arab. is "Murwarid," hence evidently "Margarita" and Margaris (woman's name).
[34]. Arab. "Kat'a" (bit of leather): some read "Nat'a," a leather used by way of table-cloth, and forming a bag for victuals; but it is never made of bull's hide.