The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01 (of 10)
General
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 01 (of 10)
Fairy tales -- Arab countries; Folklore -- Arab countries
The use of Bhang doubtless dates from the dawn of civilisation, whose
earliest social pleasures would be inebriants. Herodotus (iv. c. 75)
shows the Scythians burning the seeds (leaves and capsules) in
worship and becoming drunken with the fumes, as do the S. African
Bushmen of the present day. This would be the earliest form of
smoking: it is still doubtful whether the pipe was used or not. Galen
also mentions intoxication by hemp. Amongst Moslems, the Persians
adopted the drink as an ecstatic, and about our thirteenth century
Egypt, which began the practice, introduced a number of preparations
to be noticed in the course of The Nights.
Footnote 120:
The rubbish heaps which outlie Eastern cities, some (near Cairo) are
over a hundred feet high.
Footnote 121:
Arab. "Kurrat al-ayn;" coolness of eyes as opposed to a hot eye
("sakhin") _i.e._ one red with tears. The term is true and
picturesque so I translate it literally. All coolness is pleasant to
dwellers in burning lands: thus in Al-Hariri Abu Zayd says of
Bassorah, "I found there whatever could fill the eye with coolness."
And a "cool booty" (or prize) is one which has been secured without
plunging into the flames of war, or simply a pleasant prize.
Footnote 122:
Popularly rendered Caucasus (see Night cdxcvi): it corresponds so far
with the Hindu "Udaya" that the sun rises behind it; and the "false
dawn" is caused by a hole or gap. It is also the Persian Alborz, the
Indian Meru (Sumeru), the Greek Olympus, and the Rhiphæan Range
(Veliki Camenypoys) or great starry girdle of the world, etc.
Footnote 123:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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