presented her without ceremony as a slave to Jonas, a Grecian, who had embraced the Muhammadan religion; but Jonas, from a principle of honour, returned her, with all her jewels, unransomed to her father. When the Arabians conquered Persia, Shirin Bānu, the daughter of the King Yazdejird, was one of the captives, and was publicly exposed to sale in the city of Madīna; but the liberal-minded 'Ali thought differently from his countrymen on this occasion; he declared that the offspring of princes ought not to be sold, and married her immediately to his son."-The lot of women in Arabia before the time of Muhammad was at the best a hard one, and it certainly underwent no improvement when they happened to be taken captive in any of the frequent tribal wars. (The brutal treatment of the beauteous Abla, in the Romance of 'Antar, when she fell into the hands of the chief of a tribe hostile to that of 'Abs, is doubtless a faithful picture of Arabian life in those times.) And there can be no question that the cruel and unnatural practice which prevailed among the pre-Islamite Arabs of burying alive their new-born female children had its origin in a desire to save them from the hardships they were so likely to encounter when grown up. This practice seems to have been at one time common to most of the nations of antiquity.

Page 93. "Several of the soldiers returned."-They probably came to report to the King that the enemy were in superior force, and that more troops must be despatched to oppose them.

Page 94. "Day was beginning to dawn." The text adds: "He performed the morning-prayer (namāz-i sabā), at the time when [teaches the Kur'an] 'you can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread."" The Persians, who are shi'a (unorthodox), prefer to distinguish a white horse from a gray horse."

66

* Dissertation on the Literature, Languages, and Manners of Eastern Nations.

Page 94. "Say, King, shall I strike or not?"-It was customary, if I am not mistaken, at the courts of some of the Khalifs or other Eastern monarchs, for the executioner, after being ordered to decapitate a culprit, to ask the King three times: "Shall I strike?"

Page 95. "It was the will of Heaven that they should fall into the sea, where one of them perished, but the other was restored to us."-The unhappy couple could not bring themselves to confess that the father had with his own hand tossed them into the water. There is something in this that bears a resemblance to the answer of Joseph's brethren when they went down to Egypt to buy corn, and were arrested on suspicion of being spies: "Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not." (Gen. xlii, 13.)

Page 96. "Set at liberty all those who had been confined with him."-To the point is the following extract from the Times newspaper, of September 23, 1882, p. 8, col. 2: "The coronation of Czars is always signalised by acts of imperial clemency, and in this respect the ukase of Alexander II, on the 7th of September, 1856, remains honourable. It granted a complete amnesty to all the political offenders of 1825-6, and of the Polish rebellion of 1831, who were still in exile, or in prison; also pardons to Press offenders, military defaulters, and to about five thousand other individuals in gaols."

NOTES ON CHAPTER IX.

Page 97. "The history of Abū Temām, and the envy of the envious."-The Muslim, in his daily prayers, says: "I fly for refuge unto the Lord of the Daybreak; that He may deliver me from the mischief of the envious, when he envieth."-Kur'an cxiii. 5.

P

99 - has Page 97. Abū Temām. — Abu-literally, "Father often the sense of "endowed with," or "possessed of," and forms the figure called "metonymy." Thus, Abū Bakr, "father of the maid"-Muhammad's father-in-law and successor; Abū Hurayrat, "father of the kitten," one of Muhammad's companions, so nicknamed by the Prophet, on account of his having a pet cat.-Abū Temām signifies, possessed of integrity."

Page 98. "Any one possessed of above five direms "-equivalent to any one who had a sixpence."-It is related of Mūlī Isma'il, Emperor of Morocco (who died in 1714), that when any of his subjects grew rich, in order to keep him from being dangerous to the state, he used to send for his goods and chattels. His governors of towns and provinces formed themselves on the example of their dread monarch, practised rapine, violence, extortion, and all the art of despotic government, that they might the better send him their yearly presents: for the greatest of his viceroys was in danger of being recalled or hanged if he did not remit the bulk of his plunder to his sovereign. That he might make a right use of these treasures, he took care to bury them under ground, by the hands of his most trusty slaves, and then cut their throats, as the most effectual method of securing secrecy. The following story will illustrate his notions of property: Being upon the road, amidst his life-guards, a little before the Ram feast, he met one of his kāzīs at the head of his servants, who were driving a great flock of sheep to market. The Emperor asked whose they were. The kāzī, with a profound submission, answered: "They are mine, O Ismail, son of El-Sherif." "Thine! thou wretch!" exclaimed Muli Isma'il; "I thought I had been the only proprietor in this country." Upon which he ran him through the body with his lance, and piously distributed the sheep among his guards for the celebration of the feast. His determination of justice between man and man will evince the blessings of his administration: A kāzī complaining to him of a wife (whom he had received from his

Majesty's hands, and therefore could not divorce her), that she used to pull him by the beard, the Emperor ordered his beard to be plucked out by the roots, that he might not be liable to any more such affronts. A farmer, having accused some of his guards of having robbed hin of a drove of oxen, the Emperor shot the offenders; but afterwards demanding reparation of the accuser for the loss of so many brave fellows, and finding him insolent, he compounded the matter with him by taking away his life. One good thing he was celebrated for in the course of his long reign, the clearing of the roads of robbers, with which they used to be infested; but his method was to flay man, woman, and child that lived within a certain distance of the district where a robbery was committed.

Page 99. "The erection of bridges, caravanserais, and mosques.' ." It is doubtful whether "caravanserais be the correct rendering of the word ribāt. It may denote one of the dome-shaped buildings (kubba), having an oratory annexed, and an institution endowed for the maintenance of students (tālibān-i-ʻilm), who are to pass their lives in reading and devotion. - Sa'dī, in his Bustān, b. i, says: "No one hath come into the world for continuance, save him who leaveth behind him a good name; nor hath any one died who hath left as an inheritance a bridge, a mosque, a hostel, or an hospital. Whoever hath left no such memorial behind him, his existence has been but that of a tree which never bore fruit; and whoever hath departed and left no mark, his name after his death will never be lauded." The "erection of mosques" may remind the reader of a passage in Hamlet, iii, 2: "There's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half a year; but, by'r Lady, he must build churches then."

Page 99. "His advice was followed in all matters of importance."-The text says: "he appointed him Grand Vizier" (wazīr-i aʻzam).

Page 99. "This King had Ten Viziers, who conceived a mortal hatred against Abū Temām," &c.-See Note, pp. 137-9. -So too in Norse and other European Folk - Tales, envious courtiers endeavour to ruin or destroy a King's favourite by inciting the monarch to set him to perform some difficult and dangerous exploit, in which, however, he always succeeds.

Page 100. "Princess of Turkistān.” — Turān, Turkomania (or Transoxiana), is the country which lies beyond the Jih Oxus. Under the names of Iran and Turan the Eas torians comprehend all the higher Asia, excepting In China; and sometimes they imply "the whole world." Tātār nations in general have fine countenances, with 1. black eyes. Of all the towns in Turkistan, Chighil is t. most famous for handsome men, expert archers, and beautifu. maidens:

The ringlets of the idols of Chighil

Are altogether the abode of the soul, and the dwelling of the heart." * Page 100. "When the King heard the extravagant praises of her beauty he became enamoured."-See Note pp. 157-8.

Page 101. "When the King of Turkistān heard of Abū Temām's arrival, he sent proper officers to receive and compliment him.”—See third note, p. 131.-In Lescallier's version the interview between the King and Abū Temām is related in more detail, to the following effect :

Abū Temām, after presenting his credentials and paying his respects to the King, informed him of the subject of his embassy. "The request which the King your master makes for my daughter," said the King of Turkistān, "is for me a source of joy and happiness. But as it is to be feared that my daughter is unworthy of the King your master, I desire you to enter my harem to see her and to hear her speak, and to assure yourself if she is capable of pleasing the sovereign who sends you. I will prepare my daughter to receive you." Abū Temām, who was * Anvar-i Suhaili, or Lights of Canopus. By Hussain Vā‘iz.