[47]. See in “The Forty Vizirs” (Lady’s ivth Tale) how Khizr tells the King the origin of his Ministers from the several punishmentsose for the poor man. I have noticed this before in Night cccxxxiii. Boethius, translated by Chaucer, explains the underlying idea, “All thynges seken ayen to hir propre course and all thynges rejoysen in hir returninge agayne to hir nature.”
[48]. For the Taylasán-hood see vol. iv. 286.
[49]. The “Kalansuwah”-cap is noted by Lane (A. N. chapt. iii. 22) as “Kalensuweh.” In M. E. (Supplement i. “The Copts”) he alters the word to Kalás’weh and describes it as a strip of woollen stuff, of a deep blue or black colour, about four inches wide, attached beneath the turban and hanging down the back to the length of about a foot. It is the distinguishing mark of the Coptic regular clergy.
[50]. W. M. MS. vol. iii. pp. 121–141. Scott, “The Adventures of the abdicated Sultan,” pp. 18–19; including the “History of Mahummud, Sultan of Cairo,” pp. 20–30.
[51]. “Káhirah.” I repeat my belief (Pilgrimage i. 171) that “Káhirah,” whence our “Cairo” through the Italian corruption, means not la victorieuse (Mediant al-Káhirah) as D’Herbelot has it; but City of Káhir or Mars the planet. It was so called because as Richardson informed the world (sub voce) it was founded in A.H. 358 (= A.D. 968) when the warlike planet was in the ascendant by the famous General Jauhar, a Dalmatian renegade (not a “Greek slave”), for the first of the Fatimite dynasty Al-Mu’izz li ’l-díni ’lláh.
[52]. According to Caussin de Perceval (père) in his translation of the “Contes Arabes,” there are four wonders in the Moslem world: (1) the Pharos of Alexandria; (2) the Bridge of Sanjia in Northern Syria; (3) The Church of Rohah (Edessa); and (4) the Amawi Mosque of Damascus.
[53]. Arab. “Faddah,” lit. = silver, because made of copper alloyed with nobler metal; the smallest Egyptian coin = Nuss (i.e. Nusf, or half a dirham) and the Turk. paráh. It is the fortieth of the piastre and may be assumed at the value of a quarter-farthing.
[54]. This word, in Egypt. “Harág,” is the cry with which the Dallál (broker) announces each sum bidden at an auction.
[55]. The Portuguese Xerafim: Supplemental Nights, vol. iii. 294.
[56]. A Khan or caravanserai: see vol. i. 266 and Pilgrimage i. 60.