[294]. Arab. "Shakhs" = a person, primarily a dark spot. So "Sawád" = blackness, in Al-Hariri means a group of people who darken the ground by their shade.
[295]. The first bath after sickness, I have said, is called "Ghusl al-Sihhah,"—the Washing of Health.
[296]. The words "malady" and "disease" are mostly avoided during these dialogues as ill-omened words which may bring on a relapse.
[297]. Solomon's carpet of green silk which carried him and all his host through the air is a Talmudic legend generally accepted in Al-Islam though not countenanced by the Koran, chapt. xxvii. When the "gnat's wing" is mentioned, the reference is to Nimrod who, for boasting that he was lord of all, was tortured during four hundred years by a gnat sent by Allah up his ear or nostril.
[298]. The absolute want of morality and filial affection in the chaste young man are supposed to be caused by the violence of his passion, and he would be pardoned because he "loved much."
[299]. I have noticed the geomantic process in my "History of Sindh" (chapt. vii.). It is called "Zarb al-Raml" (strike of sand, the French say "frapper le sable") because the rudest form is to make on the ground dots at haphazard, usually in four lines one above the other: these are counted and, if even-numbered, two are taken (* *); if odd one (*); and thus the four lines will form a scheme say
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