[FN#265] Here the writer's zoological knowledge is at fault. Animals, which never or very rarely see man, have no fear of him whatever. This is well-known to those who visit the Gull-fairs at Ascension Island, Santos and many other isolated rocks; the hen birds will peck at the intruder's ankles but they do not rise from off their eggs. For details concerning the "Gull-fair" of the Summer Islands consult p. 4 "The History of the Bermudas," edited by Sir J. H. Lefroy for the Hakluyt Society, 1882. I have seen birds on Fernando Po peak quietly await a second shot; and herds of antelopes, the most timed of animals, in the plains of Somali-land only stared but were not startled by the report of the gun. But Arabs are not the only moralists who write zoological nonsense: witness the notable verse,
"Birds in their little nests agree,"
when the feathered tribes are the most pugnacious of breathing beings.
[FN#266] Lane finds these details "silly and tiresome or otherwise objectionable," and omits them.
[FN#267] Meaning, "Thou hast as yet seen little or nothing." In most Eastern tongues a question often expresses an emphatic assertion. See vol. i. 37.
[FN#268] Easterns wear as a rule little clothing but it suffices for the essential purposes of decency and travellers will live amongst them for years without once seeing an accidental "exposure of the person." In some cases, as with the Nubian thong-apron, this demand of modesty requires not a little practice of the muscles; and we all know the difference in a Scotch kilt worn by a Highlander and a cockney sportsman.
[FN#269] Arab. "Shнraj"=oil extracted from rape seed but especially from sesame. The Persians pronounce it "Sнraj" (apparently unaware that it is their own word "Shнrah"=juice in Arabic garb) and have coined a participle "Musayrij" e.g., Bъ-i- musayrij, taint of sesame-oil applied especially to the Jews who very wisely prefer, in Persia and elsewhere, oil which is wholesome to butter which is not. The Moslems, however, declare that its immoderate use in cooking taints the exudations of the skin.
[FN#270] Arab. "Nakkбrъn" probably congeners of the redoubtable
"Dandбn."
[FN#271] Bresl. Edit. xi. 78. The Mac. says "They are all fish"
(Kullu-hum) and the Bul. "Their food (aklu-hum) is fish."
[FN#272] Arab. "Az'ar," usually=having thin hair. The general term for tailless is "abtar." See Koran cviii. 3, when it means childless.