41 3 canne de compagnon: 'stout cane.' When the young artisan (compagnon) set out on his travels (tour de France) to learn his trade, he carried a stout cane which is one of the principal attributes of compagnonnage.
41 4 dieu d'Homère: in the " Iliad" and the "Odyssey" the gods often intervene in the affairs of men.
41 11 tenant le milieu entre: 'a cross between.'
41 12 Zanzibar: capital, since 1832, of the Mohammedan power in East Africa, and place of entry for travelers to Central Africa in the middle of the nineteenth century; hence here representing the idea of an African capital, as Constantinople that of a Turkish capital.
41 13 en plein Tarascon: cf. note to 5 7.
41 15 la ligne: in the French and English armies the term la ligne, 'the line,' is applied ordinarily to the infantry of the regular army as opposed to the militia, cavalry, artillery, etc. In America the line includes all that part of the regular army whose business is actual fighting.--Offenbach: Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), born at Cologne, a naturalized Frenchman, composer of light operas.
41 24 Crusoé: the final e of English proper names terminating in -oe is ordinarily pronounced in French; cf. Edgard Poé or Poë.
41 28 monter: the active use of this verb, 'carry up', cf. promener 74 26.