from Casiri's Biblioth. Arab. Hispan, in the Appendix to the feathers of the humma, according to the practice Berington's Literary History of the Middle Ages. Discharge, as from a kindled naptha fount. See HANWAY'S Account of the Springs of Naptha at Baku (which is called by Lieutenant Pottinger Joala Mookhee, or the Flaming Mouth, taking fire and running into the sea. Dr COOKE, in his Journal, mentions some wells in Circassia, strongly impregnated with this inflammable oil, from which issues boiling water. Though the weather,» he adds, << was now very cold, the warmth of these wells of hot water produced near them the verdure and flowers of spring.» Major SCOTT WARING says that naptha is used by the Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed Page 21, line 15. Thou seest you cistern in the shade—'t is GI ́d « Il donna du poison dans le vin à tous ses gens, et se jeta lui-même ensuite dans une cuve pleine de drogues brùlantes et consumantes, afin qu'il ne restàt rien de tous les membres de son corps, et que ceux qui restaient de sa secte pussent croire qu'il était monté au ciel, ce qui ne manqua pas d'arriver.»-D'HERBELOT. Page 22, line 58. To eat any mangoes but those of Mazagong was, of course, impossible The celebrity of Mazagong is owing to its mangoes, which are certainly the best fruit I ever tasted. The parent tree, from which all those of this species have been grafted, is honoured during the fruit season by a guard of sepoys; and, in the reign of Shah Jehan, couriers were stationed between Delhi and the Mah ratta coast, to secure an abundant and fresh supply of mangoes for the royal table.»-Mrs GRAHAM'S Journal of a Residence in India. Page 22, line 59. His fine antique porcelain. This old porcelain is found in digging, and «if it is esteemed, it is not because it has acquired any new degree of beauty in the earth, but because it has retained its ancient beauty; and this alone is of great importance in China, where they give large sums for the smallest vessels which were used under the Emperors Yan and Chun, who reigned many ages before the dynasty of Tang, at which time porcelain began to be used by the Emperors» (about the year 442).-DUNN's Collection of curious Observations, etc.-a bad translation of some parts of the Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses of the Missionary Jesuits. Page 23, line 60. That sublime bird, which flies always in the air. of his family."-WILKS's South of India. He adds in a note: The humma is a fabulous bird. The head over which its shadow once passes will assuredly be ed over the throne of Tippoo Sultaun, found at Serincircled with a crown. The splendid little bird, suspendgapatam in 1799, was intended to represent this poetical fancy.» Page 23, line 61. Whose words, like those on the Written Mountain, last for ever. From the dark hyacinth, to which Hafez compares his mistress's hair. Page 23, line «The Camalata (called by Linnæus, Ipomæa) is the most beautiful of its order, both in the colour and form of its leaves and flowers; its elegant blossoms are 'celestial rosy red, Love's proper hue,' and have jus ly procured it the name of Camalata, or Love's Creeper.» Sir W. JONES. << Camalata may also mean a mythological plant, by which all desires are granted to such as inhabit the heaven of India; and if ever flower was worthy of Paradise, it is our charming Ipomea.»>—Ib. Page 24, line 23. On the blue flower, which-Bramins say- «The Brahmins of this province insist that the blue Campac flowers only in Paradise.» Sir W. JONES. It appears, however, from a curious letter of the Sultan « The Humma, a bird peculiar to the East. It is sup-earth may lay claim to the possession of it. of Menangcabow, given by Marsden, that one place on posed to fly constantly in the air, and never touch the << This is ground: it is looked upon as a bird of happy omen; blue, and to be found in no other country but his, being the sultan, who keeps the flower Champaka that is and that every head it overshades will in time wear yellow elsewhere.»-MARSDEN'S Sumatra. a crown.»>-RICHARDSON, In the terms of alliance made by Fuzzel Oola Khan with Hyder, in 1760, one of the stipulations was, « that he should have the distinction of two honorary attend Page 24, line 48. I know where the Isles of Perfume are. ants standing behind him, holding fans composed of of Arabia Felix, where there was a temple of Jupiter. BRUCE. This island, or rather cluster of isles, has disappeared, come down to eat human flesh in the dark in safety.»— sunk (says GRANDPRE) in the abyss made by the fire beneath their foundations.»-Voyage to the Indian Ocean. Page 24, line 61. Whose air is balm, whose ocean spreads O'er coral rocks and amber beds; etc. « It is not like the Sea of India, whose bottom is rich with pearls and ambergris, whose mountains of the coast are stored with gold and precious stones, whose gulfs breed creatures that yield ivory, and among the plants of whose shores are ebony, red wood, and the wood of Hairzan, aloes, camphor, cloves, sandal-wood, and all other spices and aromatics; where parrots and peacocks are birds of the forest, and musk and civet are collected upon the lands.»-Travels of Two Mohammedans. Thy monarchs and their thousand thrones. « With this immense treasure Mamood returned to Ghizni, and, in the year 400, prepared a magnificent festival, where he displayed to the people his wealth in golden thrones and in other ornaments, in a great plain without the city of Ghizni.»> - FERISHTA. Page 25, line 12. Blood like this, For liberty shed, so holy is. Page 26, line 27. But see,-who yonder comes. This circumstance has been often introduced into poetry;-by Vincentius Fabricius, by Darwin, and lately, with very powerful effect, by Mr Wilson. Page 27, line 39. The wild bees of Palestine. « Wild bees, frequent in Palestine, in hollow trunks Thus it or branches of trees, and the clefts of rocks. is said (Psalm 81), «honey out of the stony rock.»—BURDER'S Oriental Customs. Page 27, line 41. And, Jordan, those sweet banks of thine, << The river Jordan is on both sides beset with little, thick, and pleasant woods, among which thousands of nightingales warble all together.»-THEVENOT. Page 27, line 86. On the brink Of a small imaret's rustic fount. Imaret, «hospice où on loge et nourrit, gratis, les pélerins pendant trois jours.»-Toderini, translated by the ABBE DE COURNAND. See also CASTELLAN'S Mœurs des Othomans, tom. v. p. 145. Page 27, line 116. The boy has started from the bed Of flowers, where he had laid his head, Kacels. « Such Turks as at the common hours of prayer are on the road, or so employed as not to find convenience to attend the Mosques, are still obliged to execute that duty; nor are they ever known to fail, whatever business they are then about, but pray immediately when the hour alarms them, whatever they are about, in that very place they chance to stand on; insomuch that when a janissary, whom you have to guard you up and down the city, hears the notice which is given him from the steeples, he will turn about, stand still, and beckon with his hand, to tell his charge he must have patience for a while; when taking out his handkerchief, he spreads it on the ground, sits cross-legged thereupon, and says his prayers, though in the open market, which having ended, he leaps briskly up, salutes the person whom he undertook to convey, and ¦ Objections may be made to my use of the word liberty, in this and more especially in the story that follows it, as totally inapplicable to any state of things that has ever existed in the East; but though I cannot, of course, mean to employ it in that enlarged and noble sense which is so well understood in the present day, and, I grieve to say, so little acted upon, yet it is no disparagement to the word to apply it to that national independence, that freedom from the interference and dictation of foreigners, without which, indeed, no liberty of any kind can exist, and for which both Hindoos and Persians fought against their Mussulman invaders with, in many cases, a bravery that deserved much bet-renews his journey with the mild expression of ghell ter success. Page 25, line 29. Afric's Lunar Mountains. « Sometimes called,» says JACKSON, «Jibbel Kumrie, or the white or lunar-coloured mountains; so a white <«<This account excited a desire of visiting the Ban- | horse is called by the Arabians a moon-coloured horse.»yan Hospital, as I had heard much of their benevolence Page 25. line 97. Only the fierce byvna stalks Throughout the city's desolate walks, «Gondar was full of hyan is, from the time it turned dark till the dawn of day, seeking the different pieces of slaughtered carcases which this cruel and unclean people expose in the streets without burial, and who firmly believe that these animals are Falashta from the neighbouring mountains, transformed by magic, and to all kinds of animals that were either sick, lame, or infirm, through age or accident. On my arrival there were presented to my view many horses, cows, and oxen, in one apartment; in another, dogs, sheep, goats and monkeys, with clean straw for them to repose on. Above stairs were depositories for seeds of many sorts, and flat broad dishes for water, for the use of birds and insects, »>-PARSONS. It is said that all animals know the Banyans, that the most timid approach them, and that birds will fly jessamines, and honeysuckles, make a sort of green nearer to them than to other people.-See GRANDPRÉ. Page 29, line 23. Whose sweetness was not to be drawn forth, like that of the fragrant wall; large trees are planted round this place, which is the scene of their greatest pleasures.»-Lady M. W. MONTAGU. Page 31, line 112. Before their mirrors count the time. The women of the East are never without their look acres, and diffuses, when crushed, a strong odour.»ing-glasses. «In Barbary," says SHAW, «they are so Sir W. JONES on the Spikenard of the Ancients. Oriental Tales. Page 29, line 98. Artisans, in chariots. Page 29, line 108. Wared plates of gold and silver flowers over their heads. « Or, rather,» says SCOTT, upon the passage of Ferishta, from which this is taken, «small coin, stamped with the figure of a flower. They are still used in India to distribute in charity, and, on occasion, thrown by the purse-bearers of the great among the populace.» Page 29, line 117. His delectable alley of trees. This road is 250 leagues in length. It has «Ettle pyramids or turrets,» says BERNIER, « erected every half league, to mark the ways, and frequent wells to afford drink to passengers, and to water the young trees.»> Page 30, line 36. fond of their looking-glasses, which they hang upon their breasts, that they will not lay them aside, even when, after the drudgery of the day, they are obliged to go two or three miles with a pitcher or a goat's skin to fetch water.—Travels. In other parts of Asia they wear little looking-glasses on their thumbs. «Hence (and from the lotus being considered the emblem of beauty) is the meaning of the following mute intercourse of two lovers before their parents. STRUY says, On the dear cold waters of which floated multitudes of the beautiful opinion is not Page 30, line 106. His story of the Fire-worshippers. He with salute of deference duo A lotus to his forehead press'd; Asiatic Miscellany, vol. ii. Page 32, line 49. The untrodden solitude I can well assure the reader that their true, who suppose this mount to be inaccessible.» He adds, that the lower part of the mountain is cloudy, misty, and dark, the middlemost part very cold and like clouds of snow, but the upper regions perfectly calm.» It was on this mountain that the Ark was supposed to have rested after the Deluge, and part of it, they say, exists there still, which Struy thus gravely accounts for: Whereas none can remember that the air on the top of the hill did ever change or was subject either to wind or rain, which is presumed to be the reason that the ark has endured so long without being rotten.» See CARRERI's Travels, where the Doctor laughs at this whole account of Mount Ararat. Page 33, line 121. The Gheber belt that round him clung. « Pour se distinguer des Idolatres de l'Inde, les Guèbres se ceignent tous d'un cordon de laine, ou du poil de chameau.»-Encyclopédie Française. D'Herbelot says this belt was generally of leather. Page 34, line 1. Who, mora and even, Hail their Creator's dwelling-place Among the living lights of Heaven! «As to fire, the Ghebers place the spring-head of it in that globe of fire, the Sun, by them called Mythras, or Mihir, to which they pay the highest reverence, in Voltaire tells us that, in his tragedy « Les Guebres,» gratitude for the manifold benefits flowing from its he was generally supposed to have alluded to the Jan-ministerial omniscience. But they are so far from consenists; and I should not be surprised if this story of founding the subordination of the Servant with the the Fire-worshippers were found capable of a similar majesty doubleness of application. of its Creator, that they not only attribute no sort of sense or reasoning to the sun or fire, in any of its operations, but consider it as a purely passive blind instrument, directed and governed by the immediate impression on it of the will of God; but they do not even give that luminary, all glorious as it is, more than the second rank amongst his works, reserving the first for that stupendous production of divine power, the Page 31, line 111. Who, full d in cool kiosk or bower. In the midst of the garden is the chiosk, that is, a large room, commonly beautified with a fine fountain in the midst of it. It is raised nine or ten steps, and inclosed with gilded lattices, round which vines, mind of man.>>-GROSE. The false charges brought against the religion of these people by their Mussulman tyrants is but one proof among many of the truth of this writer's remark, << that calumny is often added to oppression, if but for the sake of justifying it.» Page 34, line 102. dous chain » of which I suppose it a link does not extend quite so far as the shores of the Persian Gulf. «This long and lofty range of mountains formerly divided Media from Assyria, and now forms the boundary of the Persian and Turkish empires. It runs parallel with the river Tigris and Persian Gulf, and almost That enchanted tree, which grows over the tomb of the musician Tan- disappearing in the vicinity of Gomberoon (Harmozia), Sein. « Within the enclosure which surrounds this monument (at Gualior) is a small tomb to the memory of Tan-Sein, a musician of incomparable skill, who flou rished at the court of Akbar. The tomb is overshadowed by a tree, concerning which a superstitious notion prevails, that the chewing of its leaves will give an extraordinary melody to the voice.»-Narrative of a Journey from Agra to Ouzein, by W. HUNTER, Esq. Page 34, line 105. The awful signal of the bamboo-staff. "It is usual to place a small white triangular flag, fixed to a bamboo-staff of ten or twelve feet long, at the place where a tiger has destroyed a man. It is common for the passengers also to throw each a stone or brick near the spot, so that in the course of a little time, a pile equal to a good waggon-load is collected. The sight of these flags and piles of stones imparts a certain melancholy, not perhaps altogether void of apprehension.»-Oriental Field Sports, vol. ii. Page 34, line 113. Beneath the shade, some pious hands had erected, etc. «The ficus Indica is called the Pagod Tree and Tree of Councils, the first from the Idols placed under its shade; the second, because meetings were held under its cool branches. In some places it is believed to be the haunt of spectres, as the ancient spreading oaks of Wales have been of fairies: in others are erected, beneath the shade, pillars of stone, or posts, elegantly carved and ornamented with the most beautiful porcelain to supply the use of mirrors.»-PENNANT. Page 36, line 1. Before whose sabre's dazzling light, etc. seems once more to rise in the southern districts of Ker- That hold were Mosle n, who would dare << There is an extraordinary hill in this neighbourhood, called Kohé Gubr, or the Guebre's mountain. It rises in the form of a lofty cupola, and on the summit of it, they say, are the 'remains of an Atush Kudu, or Fire Temple. It is superstitiously held to be the residence of Deeves or Sprites, and many marvellous stories are rewho essayed in former days to ascend or explore it.”— counted of the injury and witchcraft suffered by those POTTINGER'S Beloochistan. Page 37, line 93. While on that altar's fires «Nul d'entre eux n'oserait se parjurer, quand il a pris a témoin cet élément terrible et vengeur.-Encyclopédie Française. ་་ Page 37, line 111. The Persian fly shines and towers. A vivid verdure succeeds the autumnal rains, and the ploughed fields are covered with the Persian lily. « When the bright cimitars make the eyes of our he- of a resplendent yellow colour.»>-RUSSEL'S Aleppo. rocs wink.»The Moallakat, Poem of AMRU. Page 36, line 45. As Lebanon's small mountain-flood Is render'd holy by the ranks Of sainted cedars on its banks. Page 39, line 25. They say that there are apple-trees upon the sides ' of this sea, which bear very lovely fruit, but within ar all full of ashes.-THEVENOT. The same is asserted of the oranges there.-See WITMAN'S Travels in Asiatic Turkey. In the Lettres Edifiantes, there is a different cause assigned for its name of Holy. «In these are deep caverns, which formerly served as so many cells for a great number of recluses, who had chosen these retreats as the only witnesses upon earth of the severity of their penance. The tears of these pious penitents gave the river of which we have just treated the name of the Holy River. See CHATEAUBRIANDS Beauties of Christ surpasses every other known water on the surface of tianity. Page 36, line 89. A rocky mountain, o'er the sea Of Oman beething as fally. «The Asphalt Lake, known by the name of the Dead Sea, is very remarkable on account of the considerable In this respect proportion of salt which it contains. the earth. Thas great proportion of bitter-tasted salts is the reason why neither animal nor plint can live in this water.-LAPROTH'S Chemical Analysis of the Water of the Dead Sea, Annals of Philosophy, January, This mountain is my own creation, as the « stupen- 1813. HASSELQUIST, however, doubts the truth of this last assertion, as there are shell-fish to be found in the lake. Lord Byron has a similar allusion to the fruits of the Dead Sea, in that wonderful display of genius, his Third Canto of Childe Harold,-magnificent beyond any thing, perhaps, that even he has ever written. Page 39, line 31. While lakes, that shone in mockery nigh. Page 40, line 13. « Le Tespih, qui est un chapelet composé de quatrevingt-dix-neuf petites boules d'agathe, de jaspe, d'ambre, de corail, ou d'autre matière précieuse. J'en ai vu un superbe au Seigneur Jerpos; il était de belles et grosses perles parfaites et égales, estimé trente mille piastres.»— TODERINI. Page 43, line 45. A silk dyed with the blossoms of the sorrowful tree, Nilica. « Blossoms of the sorrowful Nyctanthes give a dur « The Suhrab, or Water of the desert, is said to be caused by the rarefaction of the atmosphere from extreme heat; and, which augments the delusion, it is most frequent in hollows, where water might be ex-able colour to silk.»-Remarks on the Husbandry of pected to lodge. I have seen bushes and trees reflected in it, with as much accuracy as though it had been the face of a clear and still lake.»-POTTINGER. As to the unbelievers, their works are like a vapour in a plain, which the thirsty traveller thinketh to be water, until when he cometh thereto he findeth it to be nothing.»-Koran, chap. 24. Page 39, line 42. Bengal, p. 200. Nilica is one of the Indian names of this flower.-SIR W. JONES. The Persians call it Gul. -CARRERI. Page 45, line 89. When pitying Heaven to roses turn'd The death flames that beneath him bura'd! Of their other Prophet, Zoroaster, there is a story told in DION PRU SÆUS, Orat. 36., that the love of wisA flower that the Bidmusk has just passed over. dom and virtue leading him to a solitary life upon «A wind which prevails in February, called Bid-a mountain, he found it one day all in a flame, shining musk, from a small and odoriferous flower of that with celestial fire, out of which he came without any name. The wind which blows these flowers com-harm, and instituted certain sacritices to God, who, monly lasts till the end of the month.»-LE BRUYN. he declared, then appeared to him.-See PATRICK on Exodus, iii. 2. Page 39, line 44 Where the sea-gipseys, who live for ever on the water. <«The Biajus are of two races; the one is settled on Borneo, and are a rude but warlike and industrious nation, who reckon themselves the original possessors of the island of Borneo. The other is a species of seagipseys, or itinerant fishermen, who live in small covered boats, and enjoy a perpetual summer on the eastern ocean, shifting to leeward from island to island, with the variations of the monsoon. In some of their customs this singular race resemble the natives of the Maldivi islands. The Maldivians annually launch a small bark, loaded with perfumes, gums, flowers, and odoriferous wood, and turn it adrift at the mercy of winds and waves, as an offering to the Spirit of the Winds; and sometimes similar offerings are made to the spirit whom they term the King of the Sea. In like manner the Biajus perform their offering to the god of evil, launching a small bark, loaded with all the sins and misfortunes of the nation, which are imagined to fall on the unhappy crew that may be so unlucky as first to meet with it.»-Dr LEYDEN on the Languages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese Nations. Page 39, line 58. The violet sherbets. The sweet-scented violet is one of the plants most esteemed, particularly for its great use in Sorbet, which they make of violet sugar.»-Hasselquist, "The sherbet they most esteem, and which is drank by the Grand Signor himself, is made of violets and sugar.»-TAVERNIER. Page 39, line 60. The pathetic measure of Nava. « Last of all she took a guitar, and sung a pathetic air in the measure called Nava, which is always used to express the lamentations of absent lovers.»-Persian Tales. |