[FN#367] Arab. "Bassak," half Pers. (bas = enough) and—ak = thou; for thee. "Bas" sounds like our "buss" (to kiss) and there are sundry good old Anglo-Indian jokes of feminine mistakes on the subject.
[FN#368] This saving clause makes the threat worse. The scene between the two brothers is written with characteristic Arab humour; and it is true to nature. In England we have heard of a man who separated from his wife because he wished to dine at six and she preferred half-past six.
[FN#369] Arab. "Misr." (vulg. Masr). The word, which comes of a very ancient house, was applied to the present capital about the time of its conquest by the Osmanli Turks A.H. 923 = 1517.
[FN#370] The Arab. "Jízah," = skirt, edge; the modern village is the site of an ancient Egyptian city, as the "Ghizah inscription" proves (Brugsch, History of Egypt, ii. 415)
[FN#371] Arab. "Watan" literally meaning "birth-place" but also used for "patria, native country"; thus "Hubb al-Watan" = patriotism. The Turks pronounce it "Vatan," which the French have turned into Va-t'en!
[FN#372] Arab. "Zarzariyah" = the colour of a stare or starling (Zurzúr).
[FN#373] Now a Railway Station on the Alexandria-Cairo line.
[FN#374] Even as late as 1852, when I first saw Cairo, the city was girt by waste lands and the climate was excellent. Now cultivation comes up to the house walls; while the Mahmudiyah Canal, the planting the streets with avenues and over-watering have seriously injured it; those who want the air of former Cairo must go to Thebes. Gout, rheumatism and hydrophobia (before unknown) have become common of late years.
[FN#375] This is the popular pronunciation: Yakút calls it "Bilbís."
[FN#376] An outlying village on the "Long Desert," between Cairo and Palestine.