[286]. Arab. "Maghzal;" a more favourite comparison is with a tooth-pick. Both are used by Nizami and Al-Hariri, the most "elegant" of Arab writers.
[287]. These form a Kasídah, Ode or Elegy = rhymed couplets numbering more than thirteen: if shorter it is called a "Ghazal." I have not thought it necessary to preserve the monorhyme.
[288]. Sulaymá dim. of Salmá = any beautiful woman: Rabáb = the viol mostly single-stringed: Tan'oum = she who is soft and gentle. These fictitious names are for his old flames.
[289]. i.e. wine. The distich is highly fanciful and the conceits would hardly occur to a Western.
[290]. Arab. "Andam," a term applied to Brazil-wood (also called "Bakkam") and to "dragon's blood," but not, I think, to tragacanth, the "goat's thorn," which does not dye. Andam is often mentioned in The Nights.
[291]. The superior merit of the first (explorer, etc.) is a lieu commun with Arabs. So Al-Hariri in Preface quotes his predecessor:—
Justly of praise the price I pay;
The praise is his who leads the way.
[292]. There were two Lukmans, of whom more in a future page.
[293]. This symbolic action is repeatedly mentioned in The Nights.