Note [17.] Beyn el-Ḳaṣreyn (which signifies "Between the Two Palaces") is the name still applied to that part of the principal street of Cairo which intervenes between the sites of the two famous palaces of the Khaleefehs.

Note [18.] A Ḳeysáreeyeh is a superior kind of sooḳ, consisting of ranges of shops facing each other. That which is here mentioned (called in the Cairo edition, the Ḳeysereeyeh of Jirjis; in the edition of Breslau, the Ḳeysáreeyeh of Jarkash; and in the old English version, erroneously, the Circassian bezestein) is the Ḳeysáreeyeh of Jahárkas, which, as I learn from El-Maḳreezee,[327] was situate near the centre of what constituted the old city, on the east of the principal street. It existed in his time, and was built by the Emeer Fakhr-ed-Deen Jahárkas, in the year of the Flight 502 (A.D. 1108-9). Ibn-Khallikán,[328] as quoted by El-Maḳreezee, says of it, "I have seen a number of merchants who have traversed various countries, and who say, 'We have not seen in any country its equal in beauty and greatness, and compactness of construction.'" He explains also the orthography of the name of "Jahárkas," and states that it is Persian (Chahár-kas), and signifies "four persons."

Note [19.] The Egyptian fowls are much smaller than those of our country, and one is not too much for one man's breakfast. The eggs are usually hatched in ovens.

Note [20.] The appellation of "the Gardener" is here to be understood as a mere surname derived from the occupation of some ancestor of the merchant; it being a common custom of the Arabs to retain an appellation of this kind, however humble.

Note [21.] El-Maḳreezee[329] mentions a "sooḳ of the money-changers" as near to the Khán of Mesroor; and it seems to be the place here alluded to: the word "sooḳ" being often omitted.

Note [22.] The lady having offered up a prayer that the young merchant might be her husband, I have taken the liberty of inserting here a slight interpolation, which does not detract from the probability or consistency of the story; but rather the contrary.

Note [23.]—On one of the Passages in this Work indicating a very late Date. The Ḥabbáneeyeh is the name now applied to a portion of a main street, a little to the west of the lake called Birket el-Feel, in the southern part of Cairo. It is evidently thus applied in the passage to which this note relates; but El-Maḳreezee, writing in the former half of the ninth century of the Flight,[330] says, "In this our time, bordering upon it [the Birket el-Feel] is a garden called by the name of the Ḥabbáneeyeh, who were a family of Darmà the son of 'Amr the son of 'Owf the son of Thaạlebeh the son of Baạl the son of 'Amr the son of El-Ghóth the son of Ṭeiyi: so Darmà was a minor family of [the tribe of] Ṭeiyi, and the Ḥabbáneeyoon [or Ḥabbáneeyeh—for the terms are synonymous] were a family of Darmà; and the people have made a road between the garden of the Ḥabbáneeyeh and the lake." He proceeds to say, that on the east of the Birket el-Feel there were gardens; but that houses and streets had been built there.—Now, in the work before us, the tract which was a garden in the time of El-Maḳreezee is mentioned as occupied by houses and streets. Many years must have elapsed since that period before such could have been the case; and surely at least a century before the houses could have presented such an appearance as would lead a writer to imagine them of "ancient times." It may be objected against an argument drawn from this passage, that it is perhaps an interpolation of a copyist; but it agrees with many evidences of a late date, and occurs in at least one other copy (that from which the Breslau edition is printed), with only this slight difference—that "Ḥabbáneeyeh," by the erroneous addition of a point beneath the first letter, is converted into "Jebbáneeyeh;" and it should be remarked that the latter copy varies considerably in other points from that of Cairo. It would imply that Cairo was almost as extensive a city at the time when this work was composed or modernized as it is at present; and would account for its being here called Miṣr, or Maṣr; a name which was retained by El-Fusṭáṭ at least as late as the commencement of the tenth century of the Flight, and probably until the year 1517 of our era or a little later, as I have remarked in a former note.

Note [24.] "Ḳá'ah" is a term generally signifying "a lofty saloon;" but also often applied to an elegant house.

Note [25.] "Naḳeeb" signifies "a chief," "a leader," &c., and has various applications. In the present instance, the office which it designates is doubtful, but is evidently of high dignity, as Naḳeeb of the Shereefs, the Chief, or Syndic, of the Descendants of the Prophet.

Note [26.] Báb Zuweyleh (the Gate of Zuweyleh, or, more properly, of Zaweeleh, which is the name of a tribe) is a gate that was built at the same period as Báb en-Naṣr, before mentioned. It marked the southern limit of Cairo; but is now in the heart of the metropolis. With two round-fronted towers, each surmounted by a lofty and elegant mád'neh, or menaret, pertaining to the adjoining great mosque of El-Mueiyad, it presents a very noble appearance.