[129]. A mere exaggeration of the “Gull-fairs” noted by travellers in sundry islands as Ascension and the rock off Brazilian Santos.
[130]. Arab. “Kámil wa Basít wa Wáfir” = the names of three popular metres, for which see the Terminal Essay.
[131]. Arab. “Manáshif” = drying towels, Plur. of Minshafah, and the popular term which Dr. Jonathan Swift corrupted to “Munnassaf.” Lane (Nights, Introduct. p. ix.)
[132]. Arab. “Shafáif” opposed to “Shafah” the mouth-lips.
[133]. Fountains of Paradise. This description is a fair instance of how the Saj’a (prose-rhyme) dislocates the order; an Arab begins with hair, forehead, eyebrows and lashes and when he reaches the nose, he slips down to the toes for the sake of the assonance. If the latter be neglected the whole list of charms must be otherwise ordered; and the student will compare Mr. Payne’s version of this passage with mine.
[134]. A fair specimen of the Arab logogriph derived from the Abjad Alphabet which contains only the Hebrew and Syriac letters not the six Arabic. Thus 4 × 5 = 20 which represents the Kaf (K) and 6 × 10 = 60, or Sin (S). The whole word is thus “Kus,” the Greek κυσὸς or κυσσὸς, and the lowest word, in Persian as in Arabic, for the female pudenda, extensively used in vulgar abuse. In my youth we had at the University something of the kind,
To five and five and fifty-five
The first of letters add
To make a thing to please a King
And drive a wise man mad.