275 ([return])
[ The word (Saráy) is Pers. but naturalised throughout Egypt and Syria; in places like Damascus where there is no king it is applied to the official head-quarters of the Walí (provincial governor), and contains the prison like the Maroccan "Kasbah." It must not be confounded with "Serraglio" = the Harem, Gynecium or women's rooms, which appears to be a bastard neo-Latin word "Serrare," through the French Serrer. I therefore always write it with the double "canine letter.">[
276 ([return])
[ I have noted (vol. i. 95) that the "Khil'ah" = robe of honour, consists of many articles, such as a horse, a gold-hilted sword, a fine turban, etc., etc.]
277 ([return])
[ This again shows the "Nakkál" or coffee-house tale-teller. See vol. x. 163.]
278 ([return])
[ This is the Moslem version of "Solomon's Judgment" (1 Kings iii. 16-20). The Hebrew legend is more detailed but I prefer its rival for sundry reasons. Here the women are not "harlots" but the co-wives of one man and therefore hostile; moreover poetical justice is done to the constructive murderess.]
279 ([return])
[ I am not aware that the specific gravity of the milks has ever been determined by modern science; and perhaps the experiment is worthy a trial.]