Note [13.] In the Cairo edition, the couch is described as being in the midst of the saloon; but this is inconsistent with what follows.

Note [14.]—Of Bábil, and the Angels Hároot and Mároot. Bábil, or Babel, is regarded by the Muslims as the fountain-head of the science of magic, which was, and, as most think, still is, taught there to mankind by two fallen angels, named Hároot and Mároot,[175] who are there suspended by the feet in a great pit closed by a mass of rock.

According to the account of them generally received as correct, these two angels, in consequence of their want of compassion for the frailties of mankind, were rendered, by God, susceptible of human passions, and sent down upon the earth to be tempted: they both sinned; and, being permitted to choose whether they would be punished in this life or in the other, chose the former; but they were sent down not merely to experience temptation, being also appointed to tempt others by means of their knowledge of magic; though it appears that they were commanded not to teach this art to any man "until they had said, Verily we are a temptation; therefore, be not an unbeliever."[176]-–The celebrated traditionist Mujáhid is related to have visited them, under the guidance of a Jew. Having removed the mass of rock from the mouth of the pit, or well, they entered. Mujáhid had been previously charged by the Jew not to mention the name of God in their presence; but when he beheld them, resembling in size two huge mountains, and suspended upside-down, with irons attached to their necks and knees, he could not refrain from uttering the forbidden name; whereupon the two angels became so violently agitated that they almost broke the irons which confined them, and Mujáhid and his guide fled back in consternation.[177]

Note [15.] The meaning conveyed by this comparison is "tall and slender."

Note [16.] In the MS. from which the old translation was made, it appears that this lady is called Zubeydeh (which was the name of the daughter of Jaạfar the son of El-Manṣoor, and wife of Er-Rasheed); the portress, Ṣáfiyeh; and the cateress, Ámineh; but no names are given to them in any of the copies of the original to which I have access.

Note [17.] Literally, "two nuṣfs." "Nuṣf," vulgarly pronounced by the Egyptians "nuṣṣ," and signifying "half," is the name of a small Egyptian coin made of a mixture of silver and copper, and now equivalent to something less than a quarter of a farthing; but this name was originally given to the half-dirhems which were struck in the reign of the Sulṭán El-Mu-eiyad, in the early part of the ninth century of the Flight, or of the fifteenth of our era. In the Calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights, and in the edition of Breslau, we read here "two dirhems," instead of "two nuṣfs." [The coin here mentioned still bears the name "Mu-eiyadee," or, vulgarly, "Meiyadee." In the latest coinage, copper has been substituted for the mixed metal. Ed.]

Note [18.] The "menáreh" is the tower of a mosque, commonly called by English writers "minaret," which generally rises from a square base.

Note [19.] It is a common custom in the East to seal the doors of store-houses with a lump of clay, lest the lock should be picked.

Note [20.] I here deviate a little from the Cairo edition, in which the cateress is described as having drunk three cups of wine successively before she handed any to her sisters. My reason for this will presently be seen.

Note [21.] Thus in two editions. In the Cairo edition, "tukellimuhu" is put for "telkumuhu."