Lalla Rookh/Notes
NOTES.
NOTES.
Page 1.
These particulars of the visit of the King of Bucharia to Aurungzebe are found in Dow's History of Hindostan, vol. iii. p. 392.
Page 2.
Leila.
The mistress of Mejnoun, upon whose story so many Romances, in all the languages of the East, are founded.
Page 2.
Shirine.
For the loves of this celebrated beauty with Khosrou and with Ferhad, v. D'Herbelot, Gibbon, Oriental Collections, &c.
Page 2.
Dewildé.
"The history of the loves of Dewildé and Chizer, the son of the Emperor Alla, is written, in an elegant poem, by the noble Chusero."—Ferishta.
Page 3.
Those insignia of the Emperor's favour, &c.
"One mark of honour or knighthood bestowed by the Emperor is the permission to wear a small kettledrum at the bows of their saddles, which at first was invented for the training of hawks, and to call them to the lure, and is worn in the field by all sportsmen for that end." Fryer's Travels.
"Those on whom the King has conferred the privilege must wear an ornament of jewels on the right side of the turban, surmounted by a high plume of the feathers of a kind of egret. This bird is found only in Cashmeer, and the feathers are carefully collected for the King, who bestows them on his nobles."—Elphinstone's Account of Caubul.
Page 3.
Kheder Khan, &c.
"Kheder Khan, the Khakan, or King of Turquestan beyond the Gihon (at the end of the eleventh century) whenever he appeared abroad was preceded by seven hundred horsemen with silver battle-axes, and was followed by an equal number bearing maces of gold. He was a great patron of poetry, and it was he who used to preside at public exercises of genius, with four basons of gold and silver by him to distribute among the poets who excelled."—Richardson's Dissertation, prefixed to his Dictionary.
Page 3.
The gilt pine-apples, &c.
"The kubdeh, a large golden knob, generally in the shape of a pine-apple, on the top of the canopy over the litter or palanquin."—Scott's notes on the Bahardanush.
Page 3.
The rose-coloured veils of the Princess's litter.
In the Poem of Zohair, in the Moallakat, there is the following lively description of "a company of maidens seated on camels."
"They are mounted in carriages, covered with costly awnings, and with rose-coloured veils, the linings of which have the hue of crimson Andem-wood.
"When they ascend from the bosom of the vale, they sit forward on the saddle-cloths, with every mark of a voluptuous gaiety.
"Now, when they have reached the brink of yon blue gushing rivulet, they fix the poles of their tents like the Arab with a settled mansion."
Page 4.
A young female slave sat fanning her, &c.
See Bernier's description of the attendants on Rauchanara-Begum in her progress to Cashmere.
Page 4.
Religion, of which Aurungzebe was a munificent protector.
This hypocritical Emperor would have made a worthy associate of certain Holy Leagues.—"He held the cloak of religion (says Dow) between his actions and the vulgar; and impiously thanked the Divinity for a success which he owed to his own wickedness. When he was murdering and persecuting his brothers and their families, he was building a magnificent mosque at Delhi, as an offering to God for his assistance to him in the civil wars. He acted as high-priest at the consecration of this temple; and made a practice of attending divine service there, in the humble dress of a Fakeer. But when he lifted one hand to the Divinity, he, with the other, signed warrants for the assassination of his relations."—History of Hindostan, vol. iii. p. 335. See also the curious letter of Aurungzebe, given in the Oriental Collections, vol. i. p. 320.
Page 5.
The diamond eyes of the idol, &c.
"The Idol at Jaghernat has two fine diamonds for eyes. No goldsmith is suffered to enter the Pagoda, one having stole one of these eyes, being locked up all night with the Idol."—Tavernier.
Page 5.
Gardens of Shalimar.
See a description of these royal Gardens in "An Account of the present state of Delhi, by Lieut. W. Franklin."—Asiat. Research. vol. iv. p. 417.
Page 5.
Lake of Pearl.
"In the neighbourhood is Notte Gill, or the Lake of Pearl, which receives this name from its pellucid water."—Pennant's Hindoostan.
"Nasir Jung encamped in the vicinity of the Lake of Tonoor, amused himself with sailing on that clear and beautiful water, and gave it the fanciful name of Motee Talab, the Lake of Pearls,' which it still retains."—Wilks's South of India.
Page 5.
Described by one from the Isles of the West, &c.
Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador from James I. to Jehanguire.
Page 5.
Loves of Wamak and Ezra.
"The romance Wemakweazra, written in Persian verse, which contains the loves of Wamak and Ezra, two celebrated lovers who lived before the time of Mahomet."—Note on the Oriental Tales.
Page 5.
Of the fair-haired Zal, and his mistress, Rodahver.
Their amour is recounted in the Shah-Namêh of Ferdousi; and there is much beauty in the passage which describes the slaves of Rodalver, sitting on the bank of the river and throwing flowers into the stream, in order to draw the attention of the young Hero who is encamped on the opposite side.—v. Champion's Translation.
Page 5.
The combat of Rustam with the terrible white Dæmon.
Rustam is the Hercules of the Persians. For the particulars of his victory over the Sepeed Deeve, or White Demon, v. Oriental Collections, vol. ii. p. 45.—Near the city of Shirauz is an immense quadrangular monument, in commemoration of this combat, called The Kelaat-i-Deev Sepeed, or Castle of the White Giant, which Father Angelo, in his Gazophylacium Persicum, p. 127, declares to have been the most memorable monument of antiquity which he had seen in Persia.—v. Ouseley's Persian Miscellanies.
Page 6.
Their golden anklets.
"The women of the Idol, or dancing girls of the Pagoda, have little golden bells fastened to their feet, the soft, harmonious tinkling of which vibrates in unison with the exquisite melody of their voices."—Maurice's Indian Antiquities.
"The Arabian courtesans, like the Indian women, have little golden bells fastened round their legs, neck and elbows, to the sound of which they dance before the King. The Arabian princesses wear golden rings on their fingers, to which little bells are suspended, as well as in the flowing tresses of their hair, that their superior rank may be known, and they themselves receive in passing the homage due to them."—v. Calmet's Dictionary, art. Bells.
Page 7.
That delicious opium, &c.
"Abou-Tige, ville de la Thebaïde, ou il croit beaucoup de pavot noir, dont se fait le meilleur opium."—D'Herbelot.
Page 7.
That idol of women, Crishna.
"He and the three Rámas are described as youths of perfect beauty; and the Princesses of Hindustán were all passionately in love with Crishna, who continues to this hour the darling God of the Indian women."—Sir W. Jones, on the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India.
Page 7.
The shawl-goat of Tibet.
See Turner's Embassy for a description of this animal, "the most beautiful among the whole tribe of goats." The material for the shawls (which is carried to Cashmere) is found next the skin.
Page 7.
The veiled Prophet of Khorassan.
For the real history of this Impostor, whose original name was Hakem ben Haschem, and who was called Mocanna from the veil of silver gauze (or, as others say, golden) which he always wore, v. D'Herbelot.
Page 9.
Flowrets and fruits blush over every stream.
"The fruits of Meru are finer than those of any other place; and one cannot see in any other city such palaces, with groves, and streams, and gardens."—Ebn Haukal's Geography.
Page 10.
For far less luminous, &c.
"Ses disciples assuroient qu'il se couvroit le visage, pour ne pas éblouir ceux qui l'approchoit par l'éclat de son visage comme Moyse."—D'Herbelot.
Page 10.
In hatred to the Caliph's hue of night.
"Il faut remarquer ici touchant les habits blancs des disciples de Hakem, que la couleur des habits, des cöeffures et des étendarts des Khalifes Abassides etant la noire, ce chef de Rebelles ne pouvoit pas choisir une, qui lui fût plus opposée."—D'Herbelot.
Page 11.
Javelins of the light Khathaian reed.
"Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, slender and delicate."—Poem of Amru.
Page 11.
Filled with the stems that bloom on Iran's rivers.
The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it.—"Nothing can be more beautiful than the appearance of this plant in flower during the rains on the banks of rivers, where it is usually interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias."—Sir W. Jones, Botanical Observations on Select Indian Plants.
Page 11.
Like a chenar-tree grove.
The oriental plane. "The chenar is a delightful tree; its bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; and its foliage, which grows in a tuft at the summit, is of a bright green."—Morier's Travels.
Page 13.
"The name of tulip is said to be of Turkish extraction, and given to the flower on account of its resembling a turban."—Beckmann's History of Inventions.
Page 13.
"The inhabitants of Bucharia wear a round cloth bonnet, shaped much after the Polish fashion, having a large fur border. They tie their kaftans about the middle with a girdle of a kind of silk crape, several times round the body."—Account of Independent Tartary, in Pinkerton's Collection.
Page 13.
This wonderful Throne was called The Star of the Genii. For a full description of it, see the Fragment, translated by Captain Franklin, from a Persian MS. entitled "the History of Jerusalem:"—Oriental Collections, vol. i. p. 285. When Solomon travelled, the eastern writers say, "he had a carpet of green silk on which his throne was placed, being of a prodigious length and breadth, and sufficient for all his forces to stand upon, the men placing themselves on his right hand and the spirits on his left; and that when all were in order, the wind, at his command, took up the carpet, and transported it, with all that were upon it, wherever he pleased; the army of birds at the same time flying over their heads, and forming a kind of canopy to shade them from the sun."—Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 214, note.
Page 16.
This is according to D'Herbelot's account of the doctrines of Mokanna, "Sa doctrine étoit que Dieu avoit pris une forme et figure humaine depuis qu'il eut commandé aux Anges d'adorer Adam, le premier des hommes. Qu'après la mort d'Adam, Dieu étoit apparu sous la figure de plusieurs Prophetes, et autres grands hommes qu'il avoit choisis, jusqu' à ce qu'il prît celle d'Abu Moslem, Prince de Khorassan, lequel professoit l'erreur de la Tenassukhiah ou Metempschychose; et qu' après la mort de ce Prince, la Divinité étoit passée, et descendue en sa personne."
Page 34.
"Apes are in many parts of India highly venerated, out of respect to the God Hannaman, a deity partaking of the form of that race."—Pennant's Hindoostan.
See a curious account in Stephen's Persia of a solemn embassy from some part of the Indies to Goa, when the Portuguese were there, offering vast treasures for the recovery of a monkey's tooth, which they held in great veneration, and which had been taken away upon the conquest of the kingdom of Jafanapatan.
Page 34.
The material of which images of Gaudma (the Birman Deity) is made, is held sacred. "Birmans may not purchase the marble in mass, but are suffered, and indeed encouraged, to buy figures of the Deity ready made."—Symes's Ava, vol. ii. p. 376.
Page 34.
This resolution of Eblis not to acknowledge the new creature, man, was, according to Mahometan tradition, thus adopted:—"The earth (which God had selected for the materials of his work), was carried into Arabia, to a place between Mecca and Tayef, where, being first kneaded by the angels, it was afterwards fashioned by God himself into a human form, and left to dry for the space of forty days, or, as others say, as many years; the angels, in the mean time, often visiting it, and Eblis (then one of the angels nearest to God's presence, afterwards the devil) among the rest; but he, not contented with looking at it, kicked it with his foot till it rung, and knowing God designed that creature to be his superior, took a secret resolution never to acknowledge him as such."—Sale on the Koran.
Page 44.
The humming-bird is said to run this risk for the purpose of picking the crocodile's teeth. The same circumstance is related of the Lapwing, as a fact to which he was witness, by Paul Lucas, Voyage fait en 1714.
Page 48.
Some artists of Yamtcheou having been sent on previously.
"The Feast of Lanterns is celebrated at Yamtcheou with more magnificence than any where else: and the report goes, that the illuminations there are so splendid, that an Emperor once, not daring openly to leave his Court to go thither, committed himself with the Queen and several Princesses of his family into the hands of a magician, who promised to transport then thither in a trice. He made them in the night to ascend magnificent thrones that were borne up by swans, which in a moment arrived at Yamtcheou. The Emperor saw at his leisure all the solemnity, being carried upon a cloud that hovered over the city and descended by degrees; and came back again with the same speed and equipage, nobody at court perceiving his absence."—The present State of China, p. 156.
Page 48.
Artificial sceneries of bamboo-work.
See a description of the nuptials of Vizier Alee in the Asiatic Annual Register of 1804.
Page 49.
The origin of these fantastic Chinese illuminations.
"The vulgar ascribe it to an accident that happened in the family of a famous mandarin, whose daughter walking one evening upon the shore of a lake, fell in and was drowned; this afflicted father, with his family, run thither, and, the better to find her, he caused a great company of lanterns to be lighted. All the inhabitants of the place thronged after him with torches. The year ensuing they made fires upon the shore on the same day; they continued the ceremony every year, every one lighted his lantern, and by degrees it commenced into a custom."—Present State of China.
Page 51.
The Kohol's jetty dye.
"None of these ladies," says Shaw, "take themselves to be completely dressed, till they have tinged the hair and edges of their eyelids with the powder of lead-ore. Now as this operation is performed by dipping first into the powder a small wooden bodkin of the thickness of a quill, and then drawing it afterwards, through the eyelids over the ball of the eye, we shall have a lively image of what the Prophet (Jer. iv. 30.) may be supposed to mean by rending the eyes with painting. This practice is no doubt of great antiquity; for besides the instance already taken notice of, we find that where Jezebel is said (2 Kings ix. 30) to have painted her face, the original words are, she adjusted her eyes with the powder of lead ore."—Shaw's Travels.
Page 55.
Tavernier adds, that while the Birds of Paradise lie in this intoxicated state, the emmets come and eat off their legs; and that hence it is they are said to have no feet.
Page 60.
As they were captives to the King of Flowers.
"They deferred it till the King of Flowers should ascend his throne of enamelled foliage."—The Bahardanush.
Page 60.
But a light golden chain-work round her hair, &c.
"One of the head-dresses of the Persian women is composed of a light golden chain-work, set with small pearls, with a thin gold plate pendant, about the bigness of a crown-piece, on which is impressed an Arabian prayer, and which hangs upon the check below the ear."—Hanway's Travels.
Page 62.
The maids of Yezd.
"Certainly the women of Yezd are the handsomest women in Persia. The proverb is, that to live happy a man must have a wife of Yezd, eat the bread of Yezdecas, and drink the wine of Shiraz."—Tavernier.
Page 67.
"Whose wanton eyes resemble blue water-lilies, agitated by the breeze."—Jayadeva.
I perceive there is a false rhyme in this song, which, often as I have read it over, never struck me till this moment.
Page 68.
To muse upon the pictures that hung round.
It has been generally supposed that the Mahometans prohibit all pictures of animals; but Toderini shews, that though the practice is forbidden by the Koran, they are not more averse to painted figures and images than other people. From Mr. Murphy's work, too, we find that the Arabs of Spain had no objection to the introduction of figures into painting.
Page 69.
"In the palace which Solomon ordered to be built against the arrival of the Queen of Saba, the floor or pavement was of transparent glass, laid over running water in which fish were swimming." This led the Queen into a very natural mistake, which the Koran has not thought beneath its dignity to commemorate. "It was said unto her, Enter the palace. And when she saw it she imagined it to be a great water; and she discovered her legs, by lifting up her robe to pass through it. Whereupon Solomon said to her, Verily, this is the place evenly floored with glass."—Chap. 27.
Page 69.
This is not quite astronomically true. "Dr. Hadley (says Keil) has shewn that Venus is brightest, when she is about forty degrees removed from the sun; and that then but only a fourth part of her lucid disk is to be seen from the earth."
Page 69.
Zuleika.
"Such was the name of Potiphar's wife, according to the sura, or chapter of the Alcoran, which contains the history of Joseph, and which for elegance of style surpasses every other of the Prophet's books; some Arabian writers also call her Rail. The passion which this frail beauty of antiquity conceived for her young Hebrew slave has given rise to a much esteemed poem in the Persian language, entitled Yusef vau Zelikha, by Noureddin Jami; the manuscript copy of which in the Bodleian Library at Oxford is supposed to be the finest in the whole world."—Note upon Nott's Translation of Hafez.
Page 83.
The apples of Istakhar.
"In the territory of Istakhar there is a kind of apple, half of which is sweet and half sour."—Ebn Haukal.
Page 83.
They saw a young Hindoo girl upon the bank.
For an account of this ceremony, v. Grandpré's Voyage in the Indian Ocean.
Page 84.
The Otontala or Sea of Stars.
"The place where the Whangho, a river of Tibet, rises, and where there are more than a hundred springs, which sparkle like stars; whence it is called Hotun hor, that is, the Sea of Stars."—Description of Tibet in Pinkerton.
Page 86.
And camels, tufted o'er with Yemen's shells.
"A superb camel, ornamented with strings and tufts of small shells."—Ali Bey.
Page 86.
"The Lescar, or Imperial Camp, is divided, like a regular town, into squares, alleys, and streets, and from a rising ground furnishes one of the most agreeable prospects in the world. Starting up in a few hours in an uninhabited plain, it raises the idea of a city built by enchantment. Even those who leave their houses in cities to follow the prince in his progress are frequently so charmed with the Lescar, when situated in a beautiful and convenient place, that they cannot prevail with themselves to remove. To prevent this inconvenience to the court, the Emperor, after sufficient time is allowed to the tradesmen to follow, orders them to be burnt out of their tents."—Dow's Hindostan.
Colonel Wilks gives a lively picture of an Eastern encampment.—"His camp, like that of most Indian armies, exhibited a motley collection of covers from the scorching sun and dews of the night, variegated according to the taste or means of each individual by extensive inclosures of coloured calico, surrounding superb suites of tents; by ragged cloths or blankets stretched over sticks or branches; palm leaves hastily spread over similar supports; handsome tents and splendid canopies; horses, oxen, elephants, and camels; all intermixed without any exterior mark of order or design, except the flags of the chiefs, which usually mark the centres of a congeries of these masses; the only regular part of the encampment being the streets of shops, each of which is constructed nearly in the manner of a booth at an English fair."—Historical Sketches of the South of India.
Page 87.
"Some of the camels have bells about their necks, and some about their legs, like those which our carriers put about their fore-horses' necks, which together with the servants (who belong to the camels, and travel on foot), singing all night, make a pleasant noise, and the journey passes away delightfully."—Pitt's Account of the Mahometans.
"The camel-driver follows the camels singing, and sometimes playing upon his pipe; the louder he sings and pipes, the faster the camels go. Nay, they will stand still when he gives over his music."—Tavernier.
Page 92.
Savary says of the south wind, which blows in Egypt from February to May, "Sometimes it appears only in the shape of an impetuous whirlwind, which passes rapidly, and is fatal to the traveller, surprised in the middle of the deserts. Torrents of burning sand roll before it, the firmament is enveloped in a thick veil, and the sun appears of the colour of blood. Sometimes whole caravans are buried in it."
Page 101.
There were said to be under this Throne or Palace of Khosrou Parviz a hundred vaults filled with "treasures so immense, that some Mahometan writers tell us, their Prophet, to encourage his disciples, carried them to a rock, which at his command opened, and gave them a prospect through it of the treasures of Khosrou."—Universal History.
Page 102.
We are not told more of this trick of the Impostor, than that it was "une machine, qu'il disoit être la Lune." According to Richardson, the miracle is perpetuated in Nekscheb.—"Nakshab, the name of a city in Transoxiania, where they say there is a well, in which the appearance of the moon is to be seen night and day."
Page 104.
On for the lamps that light yon lofty screen.
The tents of Princes were generally illuminated. Norden tells us that the tent of the Bey of Girge was distinguished from the other tents by forty lanterns being suspended before it.—v. Harmer's Observations on Job.
Page 108.
Engines of havoc in, unknown before.
That they knew the secret of the Greek fire among the Mussulmans early in the eleventh century appears from Dow's Account of Mamood I. "When he arrived at Moultan, finding that the country of the Jits was defended by great rivers, he ordered fifteen hundred boats to be built, each of which he armed with six iron spikes, projecting from their prows and sides, to prevent their being boarded by the enemy, who were very expert in that kind of war. When he had launched this fleet, he ordered twenty archers into each boat, and five others with fire-balls, to burn the craft of the Jits, and naptha to set the whole river on fire."
The agnee aster, too, in Indian poems, the Instrument of Fire, whose flame cannot be extinguished, is supposed to signify the Greek Fire.—v. Wilks's South of India, vol. i. p. 471.
The mention of gunpowder as in use among the Arabians, long before its supposed discovery in Europe, is introduced by Ebn Fadhl, the Egyptian geographer, who lived in the thirteenth century. "Bodies," he says, "in the form of scorpions, bound round and filled with nitrous powder, glide along, making a gentle noise; then, exploding, they lighten, as it were, and burn. But there are others, which cast into the air stretch along like a cloud, roaring horribly, as thunder roars, and on all sides vomiting out flames, burst, burn and reduce to cinders whatever comes in their way." The historian Ben Abdalla, in speaking of Abulualid in the year of the Hegira 712, says, "A fiery globe, by means of combustible matter, with a mighty noise suddenly emitted, strikes with the force of lightning, and shakes the citadel."—v. the extracts from Casiri's Biblioth. Arab. Hispan. in the Appendix to Berington's Literary History of the Middle Ages.
Page 108.
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 Persians, as we are told it was in hell, for lamps.
Page 116.
"Il donna du poison dans le vin à tous ses gens, et se jetta lui-même ensuite dans une cuve pleine de drogues brûlantes et consumantes, afin qu'il ne restât rien de tous les membres de son corps, et que ceux qui restoient de sa secte pussent croire qu'il étoit monté au ciel, ce qui ne manqua pas d'arriver."—D'Herbelot.
Page 124.
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 Mahratta coast, to secure an abundant and fresh supply of mangoes for the royal table."—Mrs. Grant's Journal of a Residence in India.
Page 124.
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, &c.—a bad translation of some parts of the Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses of the Missionary Jesuits.
Page 130.
That sublime bird, which flies always in the air.
"The Huma, a bird peculiar to the East. It is supposed to fly constantly in the air, and never touch the ground: it is looked upon as a bird of happy omen; and that every head it overshades will in time wear a crown."—Richardson.
In the terms of alliance made by Fuzzul Oola Khan with Hyder in 1760, one of the stipulations was, "that he should have the distinction of two honorary attendants standing behind him, holding fans composed of the feathers of the humma, according to the practice 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 circled with a crown. The splendid little bird, suspended over the throne of Tippoo Sultaun, found at Seringapatam in 1799, was intended to represent this poetical fancy."
Page 130.
Whose words, like those on the Written Mountain, last for ever.
"To the pilgrims to Mount Sinai we must attribute the inscriptions, figures, &c. on those rocks, which have from thence acquired the name of the Written Mountain."—Volney. M. Gebelin and others have been at much pains to attach some mysterious and important meaning to these inscriptions; but Niebuhr, as well as Volney, thinks that they must have been executed at idle hours by the travellers to Mount Sinai," who were satisfied with cutting the unpolished rock with any pointed instrument; adding to their names and the date of their journeys some rude figures, which bespeak the hand of a people but little skilled in the arts."—Niebuhr.
Page 130.
From the dark hyacinth to which Hafez compares his mistress's hair.
Vide Nott's Hafez, Ode v.
Page 131.
To the Cámalatá, by whose rosy blossoms the heaven of Indra is scented.
"The Cámalatá (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 justly procured it the name of Cámalatá or Love's Creeper."—Sir W. Jones.
"Cámalatá may also mean a mythological plant, by which all desires are granted to such as inhabit the heaven of Indra; and if ever flower was worthy of paradise, it is our charming Ipomæa."—Ib.
Page 132.
That Flower-loving Nymph, whom they worship in the temples of Khathay.
Khathay, I ought to have mentioned before, is a name for China. "According to Father Premare in his tract on Chinese Mythology, the mother of Fo-hi was the daughter of heaven, surnamed Flower-loving; and as the nymph was walking alone on the bank of a river, she found herself encircled by a rainbow, after which she became pregnant, and, at the end of twelve years, was delivered of a son radiant as herself."—Asiat. Res.
Page 135.
"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 of Menangcabow, given by Marsden, that one place on earth may lay claim to the possession of it. "This is the Sultan, who keeps the flower Champaka that is blue, and to be found in no other country but his, being yellow elsewhere."—Marsden's Sumatra.
Page 136.
I know where the Isles of Perfume are.
Diodorus mentions the Isle of Panchaia, to the south of Arabia Felix, where there was a temple of Jupiter. This island, or rather cluster of isles, has disappeared, "sunk (says Grandpré) in the abyss made by the fire beneath their foundations."—Voyage to the Indian Ocean.
Page 137.
"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, sandalwood, 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.
Page 138.
Thy pillar'd shades.
For a particular description and plate of the Banyan-tree, v. Cordiner's Ceylon.
Page 138.
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 140.
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 at 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 better success.
Page 141.
Afric's Lunar Mountains.
"Sometimes called," says Jackson, "Jibbel Kumrie, or the white or lunar-coloured mountains; so a white horse is called by the Arabians a moon-coloured horse."
Page 144.
"Gondar was full of hyænas 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 come down to eat human flesh in the dark in safety."—Bruce.
Page 146.
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 153.
"The river Jordan is on both sides beset with little, thick, and pleasant woods, among which thousands of nightingales warble all together."—Thevenot.
Page 155.
Imaret, "hospice ou on loge et nourrit, gratis, les pélerins pendant trois jours."—Toderini, translated by the Abbé de Cournand.—v. also Castellan's Moeurs des Othomans, Tom. 5, p. 145.
Page 156.
"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 renews his journey with the mild expression of ghell gohnnum ghell, or, Come, dear, follow me."—Aaron Hill's Travels.
Page 158.
The wild bees of Palestine.
"Wild bees, frequent in Palestine, in hollow trunks or branches of trees, and the clefts of rocks. Thus it is said (Psalm 81), "honey out of the stony rock."—Burder's Oriental Customs.
Page 162.
In the note on this page, Chatillon should be Castellan.
Page 163.
The Banyan Hospital.
"This account excited a desire of visiting the Banyan Hospital, as I had heard much of their benevolence 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 nearer to them than to other people.—v. Grandpré.
Page 164.
"A very fragrant grass from the banks of the Ganges, near Heridwar, which in some places covers whole acres, and diffuses when crushed a strong odour."—Sir W. Jones on the Spikenard of the Ancients.
Page 167.
Artisans in chariots.
Oriental Tales.
Page 167.
Waved 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 168.
His delectable alley of trees.
This road is 250 leagues in length. It has "little 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 170.
On the clear, cold waters of which floated multitudes of the beautiful red lotus.
"Here is a large pagoda by a tank, on the water of which float multitudes of the beautiful red lotus: the flower is larger than that of the white water-lily, and is the most lovely of the nymphæas I have seen."—Mrs. Grant's Journal of a Residence in India.
Page 172.
Who many hundred years since had fled hither from their Arab conquerors.
"On les voit persécutés par les Khalifes se retirer dans les montagnes du Kerman: plusieurs choisirent pour retraite la Tartarie et la Chine; d'autres's'arrêtèrent sur les bords du Gange, à l'est de Delhi."—M. Anquetil, Mémoires de l'Academie, tom. xxxi. p. 846.
Page 172.
As a native of Cashmere, which had in the same manner become the prey of strangers.
"Cashmere (say its historians) had its own Princes 4000 years before its conquest by Akbar in 1585. Akbar would have found some difficulty to reduce this Paradise of the Indies, situated as it is, within such a fortress of mountains, but its monarch, Yusef Khan, was basely betrayed by his Omrahs."—Pennant.
Page 173.
His story of the Fire-worshippers.
Voltaire tells us that in his Tragedy "Les Guebres," he was generally supposed to have alluded to the Jansenists; and I should not be surprised if this story of the Fire-worshippers were found capable of a similar doubleness of application.
Page 180.
Who, lull'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, jessamines, and honeysuckles make a sort of green wall: large trees are planted round this place, which is the scene of their greatest pleasures."—Lady M. W. Montagu.
Page 180.
Before their mirrors count the time.
The women of the East are never without their looking-glasses. "In Barbary," says Shaw, "they are so 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.
Page 182.
Struy says, "I can well assure the reader that their opinion is not 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."—v. Carreri's Travels, where the Doctor laughs at this whole account of Mount Ararat.
Page 191.
The Gheber belt that round him clung.
"Pour se distinguer des Idolatres de l'Inde, les Guebres se ceignent tous d'un cordon de laine, ou de poil de chameau."—Encyclopédie Françoise.
D'Herbelot says this belt was generally of leather.
Page 192.
"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 gratitude for the manifold benefits flowing from its ministerial omniscience. But they are so far from confounding the subordination of the Servant with the majesty 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 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 197.
That tree which grows over the tomb of the musician Tan-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 flourished 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 197.
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 198.
Beneath the shade some pious hands had erected, &c.
"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 200.
The nightingale now bends her flight.
"The nightingale sings from the pomegranate-groves in the day-time, and from the loftiest trees at night."—Russel's Aleppo.
Page 204.
Before whose sabre's dazzling light, &c.
"When the bright cimiters make the eyes of our heroes wink."—The Moallakat, Poem of Amru.
Page 204.
In the Lettres Edisiantes, 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."—v. Chateaubriand's Beauties of Christianity.
Page 208.
This mountain is my own creation, as the "stupendous 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 disappearing in the vicinity of Gomberoon (Harmozia) seems once more to rise in the southern districts of Kerman, and following an easterly course through the centre of Meckraun and Balouchistan, is entirely lost in the desarts of Sinde."—Kinneir's Persian Empire.
Page 209.
"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 recounted of the injury and witchcraft suffered by those who essayed in former days to ascend or explore it."—Pottinger's Beloochistan.
Page 210.
Still did the mighty flame burn on.
"At the city of Yezd in Persia, which is distinguished by the appellation of the Darùb Abadut, or Seat of Religion, the Guebres are permitted to have an Atush Kudu or Fire Temple (which, they assert, has had the sacred fire in it since the days of Zoroaster) in their own compartment of the city; but for this indulgence they are indebted to the avarice, not the tolerance of the Persian government, which taxes them at twenty-five rupees cach man."—Pottinger's Beloochistan.
Page 214.
"Nul d'entre eux oseroit se perjurer, quand il a pris à témoin cet élément terrible et vengeur."—Encyclopédie Françoise.
Page 215.
The Persian lily shines and towers.
"A vivid verdure succeeds the autumnal rains, and the ploughed fields are covered with the Persian lily, of a resplendent yellow colour."—Russel's Aleppo.
Page 222.
They say that there are apple-trees upon the sides of this sea, which bear very lovely fruit, but within are all full of ashes."—Thevenot. The same is asserted of the oranges there; v. Witman's Travels in Asiatic Turkey.
"The Asphalt Lake, known by the name of the Dead Sea, is very remarkable on account of the considerable proportion of salt which it contains. In this respect it surpasses every other known water on the surface of the earth. This great proportion of bitter tasted salts is the reason why neither animal nor plant can live in this water."—Klaproth's Chemical Analysis of the Water of the Dead Sea, Annals of Philosophy, January 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 222.
While lakes that shone in mockery nigh.
"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 expected 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 223.
A flower that the Bidmusk has just passed over.
"A wind which prevails in February, called Bidmusk, from a small and odoriferous flower of that name.""The wind which blows these flowers commonly lasts till the end of the month."—Le Bruyn.
Page 223.
Where the sea-gipsies, who live for ever on the water.
"The Biajús 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 seagipsies 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 Maldivia 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 Biajús 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 223.
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 224.
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.
Page 227.
Her ruby rosary.
"Le Tespih, qui est un chapelet, composé de 99 petites boules d'agathe, de jaspe, d'ambre, de corail, ou d'autre matiere precieuse. J'en ai vu un superbe au Seigneur Jerpos; il étoit de belles et grosses perles parfaites et égales, estimé trente mille piastres."—Toderini
Page 247.
A silk dyed with the blossoms of the sorrowful tree Nilica.
"Blossoms of the sorrowful Nyctanthe give a durable colour to silk."—Remarks on the Husbandry of Bengal, p. 200.—Nilica is one of the Indian names of this flower.—Sir W. Jones.—The Persians call it Gul.—Carreri.
Page 261.
Of their other Prophet, Zoroaster, there is a story told in Dion Prusæus, Orat. 36, that the love of wisdom and virtue leading him to a solitary life upon a mountain, he found it one day all in a flame, shining with celestial fire, out of which he came without any harm, and instituted certain sacrifices to God, who, he declared, then appeared to him.—v. Patrick on Exodus, iii. 2.
Page 290.
They were now not far from that Forbidden River.
"Akbar on his way ordered a fort to be built upon the Nilab, which he called Attock, which means in the Indian language Forbidden; for, by the superstition of the Hindoos, it was held unlawful to cross that river."—Dow's Hindostan.
Page 291.
Resembling, she often thought, that people of Zinge.
"The inhabitants of this country (Zinge) are never afflicted with sadness or melancholy on this subject the Sheikh Abu-al-Kheir-Azhari has the following distich:
"Who is the man without care or sorrow (tell) that I may rub my hand to him.
(Behold) the Zingians, without care or sorrow, frolicksome with tipsiness and mirth."
"The philosophers have discovered that the cause of this cheerfulness proceeds from the influence of the star Soheil or Canopus, which rises over them every night."—Extract from a geographical Persian Manuscript called Heft Aklim, or the Seven Climates, translated by W. Ouseley, Esq.
Page 292.
About two miles from Hussun Abdaul were the Royal Gardens.
I am indebted for these particulars of Hussun Abdaul to the very interesting Introduction of Mr. Elphinstone's work upon Caubul.
Page 292.
Putting to death some hundreds of those unfortunate lizards.
"The lizard Stellio. The Arabs call it Hardun. The Turks kill it, for they imagine that by declining the head it mimics them when they say their prayers."—Hasselquist.
Page 293.
As the Prophet said of Damascus, "it was too delicious."
"As you enter at that Bazar without the gate of Damascus, you see the Green Mosque, so called because it hath a steeple faced with green glazed bricks, which render it very resplendent; it is covered at top with a pavilion of the same stuff. The Turks say this mosque was made in that place, because Mahomet being come so far, would not enter the town, saying it was too delicious."—Thevenot.—This reminds one of the following pretty passage in Isaac Walton:—"When I sat last on this primrose bank and looked down these meadows, I thought of them as Charles the Emperor did of the City of Florence, that they were too pleasant to be looked on, but only on holidays.'"
Page 294.
Would remind the Princess of that difference, &c.
"Haroun Al Raschid, cinquieme Khalife des Abassides, s'étant un jour brouillé avec une de ses maîtresses nommée Maridal, qu'il aimoit cependant jusqu'à l'excès, et cette mesintelligence ayant déjà duré quelque tems commença à s'ennuyer. Giafar Barmaki, son favori, qui s'en apperçut, commanda a Abbas ben Ahnaf, excellent Poète de ce tems là de composer quelques vers sur le sujet de cette brouillerie. Ce Poète executa l'ordre de Giafar, qui fit chanter ces vers par Moussali en presence du Khalife, et ce Prince fut tellement touché de la tendresse des vers du poëte et de la douceur de la voix du musicien qu'il alla aussi-tôt trouver Maridah, et fit sa paix avec elle."—D'Herbelot.
Page 300.
Where the silken swing.
"The swing is a favourite pastime in the East, as promoting a circulation of air, extremely refreshing in those sultry climates."—Richardson.
"The swings are adorned with festoons. This pastime is accompanied with music of voices and of instruments, hired by the masters of the swings."—Thevenot.
Page 312.
"The women in Egypt go, at least two days in the week, to pray and weep at the sepulchres of the dead; and the custom then is to throw upon the tombs a sort of herb, which the Arabs call rihan, and which is our sweet basil."—Maillet, Lett. 10.
Page 315.
Niebuhr thinks this may be the herb which the Eastern alchymists look to as a means of making gold. "Most of those alchymical enthusiasts think themselves sure of success, if they could but find out the herb, which gilds the teeth and gives a yellow colour to the flesh of the sheep that eat it. Even the oil of this plant must be of a golden colour. It is called Haschischat ed dab."
Father Jerom Dandini, however, asserts that the teeth of the goats at Mount Libanus are of a silver colour; and adds, this confirms me that which I observed in Candia; to wit, that the animals that live on Mount Ida eat a certain herb, which renders their teeth of a golden colour; which, according to my judgment, cannot otherwise proceed than from the mines which are under ground."—Dandini, Voyage to Mount Libanus.
Page 318.
"Whenever our pleasure arises from a succession of sounds, it is a perception of complicated nature, made up of a sensation of the present sound or note, and an idea or remembrance of the foregoing, while their mixture and concurrence produce such a mysterious delight, as neither could have produced alone. And it is often heightened by an anticipation of the succeeding Thus Sense, Memory, and Imagination, are conjunctively employed."—Gerrard on Taste.
This is exactly the Epicurean theory of Pleasure, as explained by Cicero. "Quo circa corpus gaudere tamdiu, dum præsentem sentiret voluptatem; animum et præsentem percipere pariter cum corpore et prospicere venientem, nec præteritam præterfluere sinere."
Madame de Stael accounts upon the same principle for the gratification we derive from rhyme:—"Elle est l'image de l'espérance et du souvenir. Un son nous fait désirer celui qui doit lui répondre, et quand le second retentit il nous rappelle celui qui vient de nous échapper."
Page 319.
"The Persians have two mornings, the Soobhi Kazim and the Soobhi Sadig, the false and the real daybreak. They account for this phenomenon in a most whimsical manner. They say that as the sun rises from behind the Kohi Qaf (Mount Caucasus) it passes a hole perforated through that mountain, and that darting its rays through it, it is the cause of the Soobhi Kazim, or this temporary appearance of daybreak. As it ascends, the earth is again veiled in darkness, until the sun rises above the mountain and brings with it the Soobhi Sadig, or real morning."—Scott Waring. He thinks Milton may allude to this, when he says
Page 321.
"In the centre of the plain, as it approaches the Lake, one of the Delhi Emperors, I believe Shah Jehan, constructed a spacious garden called the Shalimar, which is abundantly stored with fruit-trees and flowering shrubs. Some of the rivulets which intersect the plain are led into a canal at the back of the garden, and, flowing through its centre, or occasionally thrown into a variety of water-works, compose the chief beauty of the Shalimar. To decorate this spot the Mogul Princes of India have displayed an equal magnificence and taste; especially Jehan Gheer, who, with the enchanting Noor Mahl, made Kashmire his usual residence during the summer months. On arches thrown over the canal are erected, at equal distances, four or five suites of apartments, each consisting of a saloon, with four rooms at the angles, where the followers of the court attend, and the servants prepare sherbets, coffee, and the hookah. The frame of the doors of the principal saloon is composed of pieces of a stone of a black colour, streaked with yellow lines, and of a closer grain and higher polish than porphyry. They were taken, it is said, from a Hindoo temple, by one of the Mogul princes, and are esteemed of great value."—Forster.
Page 328.
And oh, if there be, &c.
"Around the exterior of the Dewan Khass (a building of Shah Allum's) in the cornice are the following lines in letters of gold upon a ground of white marble—'If there be a paradise upon earth, it is this, it is this.'"—Franklin.
Page 337.
Like that painted porcelain.
"The Chinese had formerly the art of painting on the sides of porcelain vessels fish and other animals, which were only perceptible when the vessel was full of some liquor. They call this species Kia-tsin, that is, azure is put in press, on account of the manner in which the azure is laid on."—"They are every now and then trying to recover the art of this magical painting, but to no purpose."—Dunn.
Page 338.
More perfect than the divinest images in the House of Azor.
An eminent carver of idols, said in the Koran to be father to Abraham. "I have such a lovely idol as is not to be met with in the house of Azor."—Hafiz.
Page 339.
The grottos, hermitages, and miraculous fountains.
"The pardonable superstition of the sequestered inhabitants has multiplied the places of worship of Mahadeo, of Beschan, and of Brama. All Cashmere is holy land, and miraculous fountains abound."—Major Rennel's Memoirs of a Map of Hindostan.
Jehanguire mentions "a fountain in Cashmire called Tirnagh, which signifies a snake; probably because some large snake had formerly been seen there."—"During the lifetime of my father, I went twice to this fountain, which is about twenty coss from the city of Cashmeer. The vestiges of places of worship and sanctity are to be traced without number amongst the ruins and the caves, which are interspersed in its neighbourhood."—Toozek Jehangeery.—v. Asiat. Misc. vol. 2.
There is another account of Cashmere by Abul-Fazil, the author of the Ayin-Acbaree, "who," says Major Rennel, "appears to have caught some of the enthusiasm of the Valley, by his descriptions of the holy places in it."
Page 339.
Whose houses roof'd with flowers.
"On a standing roof of wood is laid a covering of fine earth, which shelters the building from the great quantity of snow that falls in the winter season. This fence communicates an equal warmth in winter, as a refreshing coolness in the summer season, when the tops of the houses, which are planted with a variety of flowers, exhibit at a distance the spacious view of a beautifully chequered parterre."—Forster.
Page 340.
Lanterns of the triple-coloured tortoise-shell of Pegu.
"Two hundred slaves there are, who have no other office than to hunt the woods and marshes for triple-coloured tortoises for the King's Vivary. Of the shells of these also lanterns are made."—Vincent le Blanc's Travels.
Page 340.
The meteors of the north, as they are seen by those hunters.
For a description of the Aurora Borealis as it appears to these hunters, v. Encyclopædia.
Page 340.
The cold, odoriferous wind.
This wind, which is to blow from Syria Damascena, is, according to the Mahometans, one of the signs of the Last Day's approach.
Another of the signs is, "Great distress in the world, so that a man when he passes by another's grave shall say, would to God I were in his place!"—Sale's Preliminary Discourse.
Page 340.
The Cerulean Throne of Koolburga.
"On Mahommed Shaw's return to Koolburga (the capital of Dekkan), he made a great festival, and mounted this throne with much pomp and magnificence, calling it Firozeh or Cerulean. I have heard some old persons, who saw the throne Firozeh in the reign of Sultan Mamood Bhamenee, describe it. They say that it was in length nine feet, and three in breadth; made of ebony, covered with plates of pure gold, and set with precious stones of immense value. Every prince of the house of Bhamenee, who possessed this Throne, made a point of adding to it some rich stones, so that when in the reign of Sultan Mamood it was taken to pieces, to remove some of the jewels to beset in vases and cups, the jewellers valued it at one corore of oons (nearly four millions sterling). I learned also that it was called Firozeh from being partly enamelled of a sky-blue colour, which was in time totally concealed by the number of jewels."—Ferishta.
THE END.