Note [66.] Kunáfeh is a kind of pastry resembling vermicelli, made of wheat-flour. It is moistened with clarified butter—then baked, and sweetened with honey or sugar.
Note [67.] Chess is played somewhat differently in different parts of the East. The pieces are generally of very simple forms, as the Muslim is forbidden by his religion to make an image of anything that has life.
Note [68.] In my original, and in the Breslau edition, the ape is said to have been the son of the King of the Ebony Islands; but this is a mistake; for the latter, as before stated, was the father of the lady who was carried off by Jarjarees.
Note [69.] The term "leewán" has been explained in No. 12 of the notes to this chapter.
Note [70.] This was, and I believe still is, a common battle-cry of the Arabs, and more commonly used on the occasion of a victory.
Note [71.] "Dár es-Selám," "the Abode of Peace," or "of Safety," is a name often given to Baghdád, as it is also to one of the seven stories or stages of Paradise.
Note [72.]—The Mountain of Loadstone. Several Arab writers describe this mountain of loadstone. El Ḳazweenee, in his account of minerals, says that the mine of loadstone is on the shore of the Indian Ocean, and that if the ships which navigate this sea approach the said mine, and contain anything of iron, it flies from them like a bird, and adheres to the mountain; for which reason, it is the general custom to make use of no iron in the construction of the vessels employed in this navigation.[273] I think that I have met with a similar story in some Latin author.
Note [73.] For an explanation of this term, see what I have said on the subject of prayer in the first of the notes to the Introduction.
Note [74.] "Khaṣeeb" signifies "endowed with plenty."