Jo jáko paryo subháo jáe ná jío-sun;
Ním na mitho hoe sichh gur ghio sun.
Ne’er shall his nature fail a man whate’er that nature be,
The Ním-tree bitter shall remain though drenched with Gur and Ghí.
The Ním (Melia Azadirachta) is the “Persian lilac,” whose leaves, intensely bitter, are used as a preventive to poison: Gur is the Anglo-Indian Jaggeri = raw sugar and Ghi = clarified butter. Roebuck gives the same proverb in Hindostani.
[149]. In Chavis and Cazotte “Story of Kaskas; or the Obstinate Man.” For ill-luck, see Miss Frere’s “Old Deccan Days” (p. 171), and Giles’s “Strange Stories,” &c. (p. 430), where the young lady says to Ma, “You often asked me for money; but on account of your weak luck I hitherto refrained from giving it.”
[150]. True to life in the present day, as many a standing hay-rick has shown.
[151]. The “Munajjim” is a recognised authority in Egyptian townlets, and in the village-republics of Southern India the “Jyoshi” is one of the paid officials.
[152]. Arab. “Amín” sub. and adj. In India it means a Government employé who collects revenue; in Marocco a commissioner sent by His Sharifian Majesty.
[153]. Our older word for divers = Arab. “Ghawwásún”: a single pearl (in the text Jauhar = the Port. Aljofar) is called “habbah” = grain or seed.