The voice (Sházz) is left doubtful: it may be girl’s, nightingale’s, or dove’s. Footnote 419: Arab. “Hibá,” partly induced by the rhyme. In desert countries the comparison will be appreciated: in Sind the fine dust penetrates into a closed book. Footnote 420: _i.e._ he smuggled it in under his ’Abá-cloak: perhaps it was a better brand than that made in the monastery. Footnote 421: _i.e._ the delights of Paradise promised by the Prophet. Footnote 422: Again, “he” for “she,” making the lover’s address more courtly and delicate. Footnote 423: _i.e._ take refuge with Allah from the evil eye of her charms. Footnote 424: _i.e._ an thou prank or adorn thyself: I have translated literally, but the couplet strongly suggests “nonsense verses.” Footnote 425: Arab. “Santír:” Lane (M. E., chapt. xviii) describes it as resembling the Kanún (dulcimer or zither) but with two oblique peg-pieces instead of one and double chords of wire (not treble strings of lamb’s gut) and played upon with two sticks instead of the little plectra. Dozy also gives Santír from ψαλτήριον, the Fsaltrún of Daniel. Footnote 426: _i.e._ That which is ours shall be thine, and that which is incumbent on thee shall be incumbent on us = we will assume thy debts and responsibilities. Footnote 427: This passage is sadly disjointed in the text: I have followed Mr. Payne’s ordering. Footnote 428: The Arab of noble tribe is always the first to mount his own mare: he also greatly fears her being put out to full speed by a stranger, holding that this should be reserved for occasions of life and death; and that it can be done to perfection only once during the animal’s life. Footnote 429: The red (Ahmar) dromedary like the white-red (Sahab) were most valued because they are supposed best to bear the heats of noon; and thus “red camels” is proverbially used for wealth. When the head of Abu Jahl was brought in after the Battle of Bedr, Mahommed exclaimed, “’Tis more acceptable to me than a red camel!” Footnote 430: _i.e._ Couriers on dromedaries, the only animals used for sending messages over long distances. Footnote 431: These guest-fires are famous in Arab poetry. So Al-Harírí (Ass. of Banu Haram) sings:— A beacon fire I ever kindled high; _i.e._ on the hill-tops near the camp, to guide benighted travellers. Also the Lamíyat al-Ajam says:— The fire of hospitality is ever lit on the high stations. This natural telegraph was used in a host of ways by the Arabs of The Ignorance; for instance, when a hated guest left the camp they lighted the “Fire of Rejection,” and cried, “Allah, bear him far from us!” Nothing was more ignoble than to quench such fire: hence in obloquy of the Fazár tribe it was said:—