Part 16 (1/2)

[248] Plato is supposed by the _Muhammadans_ to have been not only a profound philosopher, but a wise physician. In short, it is too general an idea with them, that a clever man must be a good doctor.

[249] The _langot_ or _langoti_ is a piece of cloth wrapped or fastened round the loins, and tucked in between the feet. It barely conceals what civilization requires should be hid from the public view.

[250] _Ma'jun_ is the extract from the intoxicating plant called _charas_ or _bhang_, a species of hemp; it is mixed with sugar and spices to render it palatable. The inebriation it produces fills the imagination with agreeable visions, and the effects are different from those of wine or spirits.

[251] Six _mashas_ amount to nearly a quarter of an ounce; a sicca rupee weighs eleven _mashas_.

[252] Literally, ”a volume of a book.”

[253] This exceedingly absurd story is of Rabbinical origin. I have a strong impression on my mind of having read something very like it long ago in the works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus.

[254] The _Ismi A'zam_, or the ”Most Mighty Name” [of G.o.d] is a magic spell or incantation which the acquirer can apply to wonderful purposes. G.o.d hath, among the _Muhammadans_, ninety-nine names or epithets; the _Ismi A'zam_ is one of the number, but it is only the initiated few who can say which of the ninety-nine it is.

[255] The word _sawab_ strictly means, ”the reward received in the next world for virtuous actions performed in the present state of existence.”

[256] The veiled horseman who rescued the first and second _Darweshes_ from self-destruction.

[257] A Persian proverb.

[258] _Badakhshan_ is a part of the grand province of _Khurasan_, and the city of _Balkh_ is its metropolis, to the eastward of which is a chain of mountains celebrated for producing fine rubies.

[259] All Asiatic princes, like others nearer home, have spies, called ”reporters of intelligence,” who inform themselves of what pa.s.ses in public. They are, as a matter of course, the pest of society, and generally corrupt.

[260] A _miskal_ is four and a half _mashas_; our ounce contains twenty-four _mashas_. So the ruby weighed more than half an ounce.

[261] The word _raja_ is the _Hindu_ term for a prince or sovereign. In more recent times it has become a mere empty t.i.tle, conferred upon rich _Hindus_ by the Emperor of _Delhi_.

[262] _Naishapur_ was once the richest and grandest city in the province of _Khurasan_. It was utterly destroyed by _Tuli_, the son of _Jenghis Khan_ (or more correctly, _Changis Ka,an_), in A.D. 1221.

[263] Seven _miskals_ are more than an ounce and a quarter.

[264] The term Farang, vulgarly Frank, was formerly applied to Christian Europe in general, with the exclusion of Russia.

[265] Literally, ”kissed the ground of obeisance,” a Persian phrase, expressive of profound respect.

[266] ”The minister's daughter,” afterwards called ”the young merchant.”

[267] The phrase _pachas ek_ means ”about fifty.” It is strange that a certain critic on this work, (who has a prodigiously high opinion of himself,) should have rendered the above pa.s.sage, ”whose age was about forty or fifty years!” Most a.s.suredly, the merest tyro in _Hindustani_ can tell him that it cannot have such a lat.i.tude as to mean ”about forty or fifty.” He might just as correctly have said ”about fifty or sixty.” The phrase _pachas ek_, as I have stated, means simply ”about fifty,” i.e., it may be _one_ year more or less.

[268] In the text, the _wazir-zadi_ is henceforth called _saudagar-bacha_ or the young merchant, being the character under which she, for some time, figures.

[269] _morchhals_, vulgarly called _chowrees_, are fly-flaps, to drive away those troublesome companions; the best kind is made of the fine white long tail of the mountain cow; the others of the long feathers from, the peac.o.c.k's tail, or the odoriferous roots of a species of gra.s.s called _Khas_. They are likewise a part of the paraphernalia of state in India.

[270] The t.i.tle _khwaja _ means ”chief,” or ”master;” it is generally applied to rich merchants, &c., such as we would call ”men of respectability.” The idiomatic London English for it is ”governor,”

or (as it is p.r.o.nounced) ”guv'ner”.

[271] Literally, ”What difficulty” (is there in so doing).

[272] The city of _Naishapur_ being some 270 miles inland, it would not be easy for the young merchant to reach it by sea. Asiatic story-tellers are not at all particular in regard to matters of geography.