[FN#497] i.e. a graceful youth of Al-Hijaz, the Moslem Holy Land, whose "sons" claim especial privileges.
[FN#498] Arab. "harf'= a letter, as we should say a syllable.
[FN#499] She uses the masculine "fatá," in order to make the question more mysterious.
[FN#500] The fountain-bowl is often ornamented by a rude mosaic of black and white marble with enlivenments of red stone or tile in complicated patterns.
[FN#501] Arab. "Kubád" = shaddock (citrus decumana): the huge orange which Captain Shaddock brought from the West Indies; it is the Anglo-Indian pompelmoose, vulg. pummelo. An excellent bitter is made out of the rind steeped in spirits. Citronworts came from India whence they spread throughout the tropics: they were first introduced into Europe by the heroic Joam de Castro and planted in his garden at Cintra where their descendants are still seen.
[FN#502] Arab. "Bakláwah," Turk. "Baklává," a kind of pastry with blanched almonds bruised small between layers of dough, baked in the oven and cut into lozenges. It is still common
[FN#503] Her just fear was that the young woman might prove "too clever by half" for her simpleton cousin.
[FN#504] The curse is pregnant with meaning. On Judgment-day the righteous shall arise with their faces shining gloriously: hence the blessing, "Bayyaz' Allaho wajh-ak" (=Allah whiten thy countenance!). But the wicked shall appear with faces scorched black and deformed by horror (Koran xxiv.): hence "God blacken thy brow!" I may observe that Easterns curse, the curse being everywhere the language of excited destructiveness; but only Westerns, and these chiefly English, swear, a practice utterly meaningless. "Damn it" without specifying what the "it" is, sounds like the speech of a naughty child anxious only to use a "wicked word." "Damn you!" is intelligible all the world over. It has given rise to "les goddams" in France, "Godámes" in the Brazil and "Gotáma" amongst the Somal of Eastern Africa, who learn it in Aden,
[FN#505] Arab. "Zardah," usually rice dressed with saffron and honey, from Pers. "Zard," saffron, yellow. See Night dcxii.
[FN#506] Vulgarly called "knuckle-bone," concerning which I shall have something to say.