300 ([return])
[ Arab. "Házir!" I have noted that this word, in Egypt and Syria, corresponds with the English waiter's "Yes sir!">[
301 ([return])
[ Koran, Chapter of Joseph, xii. 19.]
302 ([return])
[ Arab. "Hanút:" this custom has become almost obsolete: the corpse is now sprinkled with a mixture of water, camphor diluted and the dried and pounded leaves of various trees, especially the "Nabk" (lote-tree or Zizyphus lotus).?Lane M.E. chapt. xxviii.]
303 ([return])
[ These comical measures were taken by "Miss Lucy" in order to charm away the Evil Eye which had fascinated the article in question. Such temporary impotence in a vigorous man, which results from an exceptional action of the brain and the nervous system, was called in old French Nouement des aiguilettes (i.e. point-tying, the points which fastened the haut-de-chausses or hose to the jerkin, and its modern equivalent would be to "button up the flap"). For its cure, the "Déliement des aiguilettes" see Davenport "Aphrodisiacs" p. 36, and the French translation of the Shaykh al-Nafzáwi (Jardin Parfumé, chapt. xvii. pp. 251-53). The Moslem heal such impotence by the usual simples, but the girl in the text adopts a moral course of treatment which buries the dead parts in order to resurrect them. A friend of mine, a young and vigorous officer, was healed by a similar process. He had carried off a sergeant's wife, and the husband lurked about the bungalow to shoot him, a copper cap being found under the window: hence a state of nervousness which induced perfect impotence. He applied to the regimental surgeon, happily a practised hand, and was gravely supplied with pills and a draught; his diet was carefully regulated and he was ordered to sleep by the woman but by no means to touch her for ten days. On the fifth he came to his adviser with a sheepish face and told him that he had not wholly followed the course prescribed, as last night he had suddenly?by the blessing of the draught and the pills?recovered and had given palpable evidence of his pristine vigour. The surgeon deprecated such proceeding until the patient should have had full benefit of his drugs?bread pills and cinnamon-water.]
304 ([return])
[ Here ends vol. iii. of the W. M. MS. and begins Night cdxxvi.]