[FN#36] The simplicity of old Assyrian correspondence is here well preserved, as we may see by comparing those letters with the cuneiform inscriptions, etc., by S. Abden Smith (Pfeiffer, Leipsic, 1887). One of them begins thus, "The will of the King to Sintabni-Uzur. Salutation from me to thee. May it be well with thee. Regarding Sinsarra-utzur whom thou hast sent to me, how is thy report?" etc. We find such expressions as "May the great Gods, lovers of thy reign, preserve thee an hundred years;" also "Peace to the King, my lord," etc. [FN#37] Arab. "Yaum al-Khamís." For the week-days see vol. vi. 190, and for a longer notice, Al-Mas'udi, iii. 422-23. [FN#38] In the text "Kál" (al-Ráwí), "the Reciter saith"--which formula I omit here and elsewhere. [FN#39] i.e. "The Father of the little Fish," in Gauttier (vii. 329) "Abou Soméika." [FN#40] By way of insult; as I have before noticed. [FN#41] He had now learned that Nadan had ruined him. [FN#42] The wife (in p. 155; "Ashghaftíní") is called "Thou hast enamoured me" from the root "Shaghaf"=violent love, joy, grief. Chavis has Zefagnie: Gauttier suppresses the name, which is not pretty. In the old version she is made aunt (father's sister) to Sankharib. [FN#43] The old version attributes all this device to "Zefagnie;" thus injuring the unity and the interest of the tale. [FN#44] Arab. "Jund" plur. "Junúd," a term mostly applied to regular troops under the Government, as opposed to soldiers who took service with the Amirs or great barons--a state of things still enduring in non-British India. [FN#45] Who thus makes a "Ma'adabah"=wake or funeral feast before his death. See vol. viii. 231. [FN#46] i.e. "Father of the Fishlet", in the old version "Yapousmek" (Yá Abú Sumayk). [FN#47] In Chavis he becomes "an old slave, a magician, stained with the greatest crimes, who has the air and figure of Hicar." [FN#48] A formula which announces the death of his supposed enemy. [FN#49] Arab. " Matmúrah"=Sardábah (i. 340), a silo for storing grain, an underground cell (ii. 39). [FN#50] See text "Náhú" from "Nauh"=ceremonious keening for the dead. The general term for the wail is "Walwalah" or "Wilwál" (an onomatopoy) and for the public wailing-woman "Naddábah." [FN#51] Here we find the Doric form "Rahúm" for "Rahím," or it may simply be the intensive and emphatic form, as "Nazúr"=one who looks intently for "Názir," a looker. [FN#52] In the old version "a tenth part of the revenues." The "Kasím" of the text is an unusual word which M. Houdas would render revenues en nature, as opposed to Khiráj, revenues en argent. I translate it by "tax tribute." [FN#53] In text "'Azzámín, "i.e. men who recite "'Azm," mostly Koranic versets which avert evil. [FN#54] This may either be figurative or literal--upon the ashes where the fire had been; even as the father of Sayf al-Mulúk sat upon the floor of his audience-hall (vol. vii. 314).