[FN#415] Lit. burst the "gall-bladder:" In this and in the "liver" allusions I dare not be baldly literal.
[FN#416] Arab. "Usfur" the seeds of Carthamus tinctorius = Safflower (Forskal, Flora, etc. lv.). The seeds are crushed for oil and the flowers, which must be gathered by virgins or the colour will fail, are extensively used for dying in Southern Arabia and Eastern Africa.
[FN#417] On such occasions Miss Modesty shuts her eye and looks as if about to faint.
[FN#418] After either evacuation the Moslem is bound to wash or sand the part; first however he should apply three pebbles, or potsherds or clods of earth. Hence the allusion in the Koran (chapt. ix), "men who love to be purified." When the Prophet was questioning the men of Kuba, where he founded a mosque (Pilgrimage ii., 215), he asked them about their legal ablutions, especially after evacuation; and they told him that they used three stones before washing. Moslems and Hindus (who prefer water mixed with earth) abhor the unclean and unhealthy use of paper without ablution; and the people of India call European draught-houses, by way of opprobrium, "Kághaz-khánah" = paper closets. Most old Anglo-Indians, however, learn to use water.
[FN#419] "Miao" or "Mau" is the generic name of the cat in the Egyptian of the hieroglyphs.
[FN#420] Arab. "Ya Mash'úm" addressed to an evil spirit.
[FN#421] "Heehaw!" as we should say. The Bresl. Edit. makes the cat cry "Nauh! Nauh!" and the ass-colt "Manu! Manu!" I leave these onomatopoeics as they are in Arabic; they are curious, showing the unity in variety of hearing inarticulate sounds. The bird which is called "Whip poor Will" in the U.S. is known to the Brazilians as "Joam corta páo" (John cut wood); so differently do they hear the same notes.
[FN#422] It is usually a slab of marble with a long slit in front and a round hole behind. The text speaks of a Kursi (= stool); but this is now unknown to native houses which have not adopted European fashions.
[FN#423] This again is chaff as she addresses the Hunchback. The Bul. Edit. has "O Abu Shiháb" (Father of the shooting-star = evil spirit); the Bresl. Edit. "O son of a heap! O son of a Something!" (al-afsh, a vulgarism).
[FN#424] As the reader will see, Arab ideas of "fun" and practical jokes are of the largest, putting the Hibernian to utter rout, and comparing favourably with those recorded in Don Quixote.