[27]. For the “Ták” or “Tákah” = the little wall-niche, see vol. vii. 361.
[28]. In the French and English versions the coin is a bit of lead for weighting the net. For the “Paysá” (pice) = two farthings, and in weight = half an ounce, see Herklot’s Glossary, p. xcviii.
[29]. In the text “bilisht” = the long span between thumb-tip and minimus-tip. Galland says long plus d’une coudée et gros à proportion.
[30]. For the diamond (Arab. “Almás” from ἀδάμας, and in Hind. “Hírá” and “Panná”) see vols. vi. 15, ix. 325; and in latter correct, “Euritic,” a misprint for “dioritic.” I still cannot believe diamond-cutting to be an Indian art, and I must hold that it was known to the ancients. It could not have been an unpolished stone, that “Adamas notissimus” which according to Juvenal (vi. 156) Agrippa gave to his sister. Maundeville (A.D. 1322) has a long account of the mineral, “so hard that no man can polish it,” and called Hamese (“Almás?”). For Mr. Petrie and his theory, see vol. ix. 325. In most places where the diamond has been discovered of late years it had been used as a magic stone, e.g., by the Pagés or medicine-men of the Brazil, or for children’s playthings, which was the case with the South-African “Caffres.”
[31]. These stones, especially the carbuncle, which give out light in darkness are a commonplace of Eastern folk-lore. For luminous jewels in folk-lore, see Mr. Clouston (i. 412.): the belief is not wholly extinct in England, and I have often heard of it in the Brazil and upon the African Gaboon. It appears to me that there may be a basis of fact to this fancy, the abnormal effect of precious stones upon mesmeric “sensitives.”
[32]. The chimney and chimney-piece of Galland are not Eastern: the H. V. uses “Bukhárí” = a place for steaming.
[33]. i.e. “Rachel.”
[34]. In the text “lakh,” the Anglicised “lac” = 100,000.
[35]. This use of camphor is noted by Gibbon (D. and F. iii. 195.)
[36]. “Áb o hawá” = climate: see vol. ii. 4.