[FN#44] "The green palm-stick is of the trees of Paradise;" say the Arabs in Solomonic style but not Solomonic words: so our "Spare the rod," etc. [FN#45] Wayfarers, travellers who have a claim on the kindness of those at home: hence Abd al-Rahman al-Burai sings in his famous Ode:— He hath claim on the dwellers in the places of their birth, * Whoso wandereth the world, for he lacketh him a home. It is given in my "First Footsteps in East Africa" (pp. 53-55). [FN#46] The good old man treated the youth like a tired child. [FN#47] In Moslem writings the dove and turtle-dove are mostly feminine, whereas the female bird is always mute and only the male sings to summon or to amuse his mate. [FN#48] An unsavoury comparison of the classical Narcissus with the yellow white of a nigger's eyes. [FN#49] A tree whose coals burn with fierce heat: Al-Hariri (Vth Séance). This Artemisia is like the tamarisk but a smaller growth and is held to be a characteristic of the Arabian Desert. A Badawi always hails with pleasure the first sight of the Ghazá, after he has sojourned for time away from his wilds. Mr. Palgrave (i. 38) describes the "Ghadá" as an Euphorbia with a woody stem often 5-6 feet high and slender flexible green twigs (?), "forming a feathery tuft, not ungraceful to the eye, while it affords some shelter to the traveller, and food to his camels." [FN#50] Arab. "Sal'am"=S(alla) A(llah) a(layhi) wa S(allam); A(llah) b(less) h(im) a(nd) k(eep)=Allah keep him and assain! [FN#51] The ass is held to be ill-omened. I have noticed the braying elsewhere. According to Mandeville the Devil did not enter the Ark with the Ass, but he left it when Noah said "Benedicite." In his day (A.D. 1322) and in that of Benjamin of Tudela, people had seen and touched the ship on Ararat, the Judi (Gordiæi) mountains; and this dates from Berosus (S.C. 250) who, of course, refers to the Ark of Xisisthrus. See Josephus Ant. i. 3, 6; and Rodwell (Koran, pp. 65, 530). [FN#52] As would happen at a "Zikr," rogation or litany. Those who wish to see how much can be made of the subject will read "Pearls of the Faith, or Islam's Rosary, being the ninety-nine beautiful names of Allah" (Asmá-el-Husna) etc. by Edwin Arnold: London, Trübner, 1883. [FN#53] i.e. the Sáki, cup-boy or cup-bearer. "Moon-faced," as I have shown elsewhere, is no compliment in English, but it is in Persian and Arabic. [FN#54] He means we are "Záhirí," plain honest Moslems, not "Bátiní," gnostics (ergo reprobates) and so forth, who disregard all appearances and external ordinances. This suggests his opinion of Shaykh Ibrahim and possibly refers to Ja'afar's suspected heresy. [FN#55] This worthy will be noticed in a subsequent page.