[24]. This thoroughly dramatic scene is told with a charming naïveté. No wonder that The Nights has been made the basis of a national theatre amongst the Turks.
[25]. Arab. “Taysh” lit. = vertigo, swimming of head.
[26]. Here Trébutien (iii. 265) reads “la ville de Khaïtan (so the Mac. Edit. iv. 708) capital du royaume de Sohatan.” Ikhtiyán Lane suggests to be fictitious: Khatan is a district of Tartary east of Káshgar, so called by Sádik al-Isfaháni p. [24].
[27]. This is a true picture of the tact and savoir faire of the Cairenes. It was a study to see how, under the late Khedive they managed to take precedence of Europeans who found themselves in the background before they knew it. For instance, every Bey, whose degree is that of a Colonel was made an “Excellency” and ranked accordingly at Court whilst his father, some poor Fellah, was ploughing the ground. Tanfík Pasha began his ill-omened rule by always placing natives close to him in the place of honour, addressing them first and otherwise snubbing Europeans who, when English, were often too obtuse to notice the petty insults lavished upon them.
[28]. Arab. “Kathír” (pron. Katir) = much: here used in its slang sense, “no end.”
[29]. i.e. “May the Lord soon make thee able to repay me; but meanwhile I give it to thee for thy own free use.”
[30]. Punning upon his name. Much might be written upon the significance of names as ominous of good and evil; but the subject is far too extensive for a footnote.
[31]. Lane translates “Ánisa-kum” by “he hath delighted you by his arrival”; Mr. Payne “I commend him to you.”
[32]. Arab. “Fatúrát,” = light food for the early breakfast of which the “Fatírah” cake was a favourite item. See vol. i. [300].
[33]. A dark red dye (Lane).