[FN#248] This, I have noted, is according to Koranic command (chaps. iv. 88). "When you are saluted with a salutation, salute the person with a better salutation." The longer answer to "Peace be with (or upon) thee! " is still universally the custom. The "Salem" is so differently pronounced by every Eastern nation that the observant traveller will easily make of it a Shibboleth. [FN#249] The Badawi, who was fool as well as rogue, begins to fear that he has kidnapped a girl of family. [FN#250] These examinations being very indecent are usually done in strictest privacy. The great point is to make sure of virginity. [FN#251] This is according to strict Moslem law: the purchaser may not look at the girl's nakedness till she is his, and he ought to manage matters through an old woman. [FN#252] Lit. wrath; affliction which chokes; in Hindustani it means simply anger. [FN#253] i.e. Heaven forbid I be touched by a strange man. [FN#254] Used for fuel and other purposes, such as making "doss stick." [FN#255] Arab "Yaftah'Allah" the offer being insufficient. The rascal is greedy as a Badaw and moreover he is a liar, which the Badawi is not. [FN#256] The third of the four great Moslem schools of Theology, taking its name from the Imam al-Sháfi'í (Mohammed ibn Idrís) who died in Egypt A.H. 204, and lies buried near Cairo. (Sale's Prel. Disc. sect. viii.) [FN#257] The Moslem form of Cabbala, or transcendental philosophy of the Hebrews. [FN#258] Arab. "Bakh" the word used by the Apostle to Ali his son-in-law. It is the Latin "Euge." [FN#259] Readers, who read for amusement, will do well to "skip" the fadaïses of this highly educated young woman. [FN#260] There are three Persian Kings of this name (Artaxerxes) which means "Flour and milk," or "high lion." The text alludes to Ardeshir Babegan, so called because he married the daughter of Babak the shepherd, founder of the Sassanides in A.D. 202. See D,Herberot, and the Dabistan. [FN#261] Alluding to the proverb, "Folk follow their King's faith," "Cujus regio ejus religio" etc. [FN#262] Second Abbaside, A.H. 136-158 (=754-775). [FN#263] The celebrated companion of Mohammed who succeeded Abu Bakr in the Caliphate (A.H. 13-23=634-644). The Sunnis know him as Al-Adil the Just, and the Shiahs detest him for his usurpation, his austerity and harshness. It is said that he laughed once and wept once. The laugh was caused by recollecting how he ate his dough-gods (the idols of the Hanifah tribe) in The Ignorance. The tears were drawn by remembering how he buried alive his baby daughter who, while the grave was being dug, patted away the dust from his hair and beard. Omar was doubtless a great man, but he is one of the most ungenial figures in Moslem history which does not abound in genialities. To me he suggests a Puritan, a Covenanter of the sourest and narrowest type; and I cannot wonder that the Persians abhor him, and abuse him on all occasions.