May be heart-attracting as a cap, but is not worth the loss of the head it covers.
The sufferings of the sea may appear easy to bear in the prospect of its pearls;
But I have erred, for its waves are not worth one hundred munns of gold.”[[44]]
Page [24]. “Most of the houses were washed away.”—Probably owing to the non-adhesive qualities of the mortar generally employed in the construction of Persian houses: a mixture, half of mud, one fourth of lime, and the rest ashes of burnt straw and rubbish.
Page [25]. “Trees and running streams.”—The dryness of the Persian climate and the deficiency of rivers have exercised in ancient (Polybius, lib. 10, 25) as in modern times the ingenuity of the natives in the discovery of springs.—In the Story of Abū Temām (page [98]) a city is also described as “adorned with gardens and running streams.” It was a saying of Muhammad that “three things fortify the sight: looking at verdure, at running water, and at a handsome face.”
Page [25]. Dihkān is a compound word, from dih, a village, and khān, lord, or chief.
Page [25]. “Erected a summer-house”—the text adds, “and on it a lofty watch-tower.”
Page [25]. “The stranger was entertained with politeness and hospitality.”—The Kur’ān (iv, 40) enjoins the believer to “serve God ... and show kindness unto ... your neighbour who is a stranger ... and the traveller” (ibnu-’s sabīl: son of the road). The practice of hospitality among the pre-Islamite Arabs is too well known to require more than passing mention, and reference to Professor Lee’s note on Job xxi, 16.
Page [25]. “A suit of his clothes”; his own jubba and dastār. The jubba is a vest with cotton quilted between the outside and the lining; the dastār is the sash, or fine muslin cloth, wrapped round the turban.