[FN#216] For the curious street-cries of old Cairo see Lane (M. E. chapt. xiv.) and my Pilgrimage (i. 120): here the rhymes are of Zabíb (raisins), habíb (lover) and labíb (man of sense).
[FN#217] The Mac. and Bul. Edits. give two silly couplets of moral advice:—
Strike with thy stubborn steel, and never fear *
Aught save the Godhead of Almighty Might;
And shun ill practices and never show *
Through life but generous gifts to human sight.
The above is from the Bresl. Edit. ix. 247.
[FN#218] Arab. “Al-Khanakah” now more usually termed a
Takíyah. (Pilgrim. i. 124.)
[FN#219] Arab. “Ka’b al-ba’íd” (Bresl. Edit. ix. 255)=heel or ankle, metaph. for fortune, reputation: so the Arabs say the “Ka’b of the tribe is gone!” here “the far one”=the caravan-leader.
[FN#220] Arab. “Sharít,” from Sharata=he Scarified; “Mishrat”=a lancet and “Sharítah”=a mason’s rule. Mr. Payne renders “Sharít” by whinyard: it must be a chopper-like weapon, with a pin or screw (laulab) to keep the blade open like the snap of the Spaniard’s cuchillo. Dozy explains it=epée, synonyme de Sayf.
[FN#221] Text “Dimágh,” a Persianism when used for the head: the word properly means brain or meninx.
[FN#222] They were afraid even to stand and answer this remarkable ruffian.
[FN#223] Ahmad the Abortion, or the Foundling, nephew (sister’s son) of Zaynab the Coney-catcher. See supra, p. 145.