[FN#57] A she-Ifrit, not necessarily an evil spirit.
[FN#58] Arab. "Kullah" (in Egypt pron. "gulleh"), the wide mouthed jug, called in the Hijaz "baradiyah;" "daurak" being the narrow. They are used either for water or sherbet and, being made of porous clay, "sweat," and keep the contents cool; hence all old Anglo Egyptians drink from them, not from bottles. Sometimes they are perfumed with smoke of incense, mastich or Kafal (Amyris Kafal). For their graceful shapes see Lane's "Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians" (chapt. v) I quote, here and elsewhere, from the fifth edition, London, Murray, 1860.
[FN#59] "And what is?" etc. A popular way of expressing great difference. So in India:—"Where is Rajah Bhoj (the great King) and where is Gangá the oilman?"
[FN#60] Here, as in other places, I have not preserved the monorhyme, but have ended like the English sonnet with a couplet; as a rule the last two lines contain a "Husn makta'" or climax.
[FN#61] Lit. "he began to say (or speak) poetry," such improvising being still common amongst the Badawin as I shall afterwards note. And although Mohammed severely censured profane poets, who "rove as bereft of their senses through every valley" and were directly inspired by devils (Koran xxvi.), it is not a little curious to note that he himself spoke in "Rajaz" (which see) and that the four first Caliphs all "spoke poetry." In early ages the verse would not be written, if written at all, till after the maker's death. I translate "inshád" by "versifying" or "repeating" or "reciting," leaving it doubtful if the composition be or be not original. In places, however, it is clearly improvised and then as a rule it is model doggrel.
[FN#62] Arab. "Allahumma"=Yá Allah (O Allah) but with emphasis the Fath being a substitute for the voc. part. Some connect it with the Heb. "Alihím," but that fancy is not Arab. In Al-Hariri and the rhetoricians it sometimes means to be sure; of course; unless indeed; unless possibly= Greek νὴ δία.
[FN#63] Probably in consequence of a vow. These superstitious practices, which have many a parallel amongst ourselves, are not confined to the lower orders in the East.
[FN#64] i.e., saying "Bismillah!" the pious ejaculation which should precede every act. In Boccaccio (viii., 9) it is "remembering Iddio e' Santi."
[FN#65] Arab. Nahás asfar = brass, opposed to "Nahás" and "Nahás ahmar," = copper.
[FN#66] This alludes to the legend of Sakhr al-Jinni, a famous fiend cast by Solomon David son into Lake Tiberias whose storms make it a suitable place. Hence the "Bottle imp," a world-wide fiction of folk-lore: we shall find it in the "Book of Sindibad," and I need hardly remind the reader of Le Sage's "Diable Boiteux," borrowed from "El Diablo Cojuelo," the Spanish novel by Luiz Velez de Guevara.