[67]. Arab. “Násik,” a religious, a man of Allah from Nask, devotion: somewhat like Sálik (Dabistan iii. 251).
[68]. The well-known Egyptian term for a peasant, a husbandman, extending from the Nile to beyond Mount Atlas.
[69]. This is again, I note, the slang sense of “’Azím,” which in classical Arabic means simply great.
[70]. Arab. “Adab”; see vol. i. [132]. It also implies mental discipline, the culture which leads to excellence, good manners and good morals; and it is sometimes synonymous with literary skill and scholarship. “Ilm al-Adab,” says Haji Khalfah (Lane’s Lex.), “is the science whereby man guards against error in the language of the Arabs spoken or written.”
[71]. i.e. I esteem thee as thou deservest.
[72]. The style is intended to be worthy of the statesman. In my “Mission to Dahome” the reader will find many a similar scene.
[73]. The Bresl. Edit. (vol viii. 22) reads “Turks” or “The Turk” in lieu of “many peoples.”
[74]. i.e. the parents.
[75]. The humour of this euphuistic Wazirial speech, purposely made somewhat pompous, is the contrast between the unhappy Minister’s praises and the result of his prognostication. I cannot refrain from complimenting Mr. Payne upon the admirable way in which he has attacked and mastered all the difficulties of its abstruser passages.
[76]. Arab. “Halummú” plur. of “Halumma” = draw near! The latter form is used by some tribes for all three numbers; others affect a dual and a plural (as in the text). Preston (Al-Hariri, p. 210) derives it from Heb. הלום but the geographers of Kufah and Basrah (who were not etymologists) are divided about its origin. He translates (p. 221) “Halumma Jarran” = being the rest of the tale in continuation with this, i.e. in accordance with it, like our “and so forth.” And in p. 271, he makes Halumma = Hayya i.e. hither! (to prayer, etc).