[86]. i.e. Enter in the name of Allah.
[87]. i.e. Damn your soul for leading me into this danger!
[88]. Arab. “Saff Kamaríyát min al-Zujáj.” The Kamaríyah is derived by Lane (Introd. M.E.) from Kamar = moon; by Baron Von Hammer from Khumárawayh, second of the Banu-Tulún dynasty, at the end of the ixth century A.D., when stained glass was introduced into Egypt. N.B.—It must date from many centuries before. The Kamariyah are coloured glass windows about 2 feet high by 18 inches wide, placed in a row along the upper part of the Mashrabíyah or projecting lattice-window, and are formed of small panes of brightly-stained glass set in rims of gypsum-plaster, the whole framed in wood. Here the allusion is to the “Mamrak” or dome-shaped skylight crowning the room. See vol. viii. 156.
[89]. i.e. easily arrested them.
[90]. The reader will not forget the half-penitent Captain of Bandits in Gil Blas.
[91]. Arab. “Abtál” = champions, athletes, etc., plur. of Batal, a brave: so Batalat = a virago. As the root Batala = it was vain, the form “Battál” may mean either a hero or a bad lot: see vol. viii. 335; x. 74, 75.
[92]. Arab. “Fityán;” plur. of Fatà: see vol. i. 67.
[93]. This was in popular parlance “adding insult to injury:” the blackening their faces was a promise of Hell-fire.
[94]. Arab. “Shayyan li ’lláh!” lit. = (Give me some) Thing for (the love of) Allah. The answer in Egypt is “Allah ya’tík:” = Allah will give it thee (not I), or, “Yaftah ’Allah,” = Allah open (to thee the door of subsistence): in Marocco “Sir fí hálik” (pron. Sirfhák) = Go about thy business. In all cities there is formula which suffices the asker; but the Ghashím (Johnny Raw) who ignores it, is pestered only the more by his protestations that “he left his purse at home,” etc.
[95]. i.e. engaged her for a revel and paid her in advance.