NOTE 30.--_On the Language of Birds, &c._ It is commonly believed by the Muslims (learned and unlearned), that all kinds of birds, and many (if not all) beasts, have a language by which they communicate their thoughts to each other; and we are told in the Ḳur-án,[107] that Suleymán (or Solomon) was taught the language of birds.[108] I thought that I could boast of an accomplishment very rare in Christian countries, in having learned, in Egypt, somewhat of this language; for instance, that the common cry of the pigeon is "Alláh! Alláh!" ("God! God!"); that of the ringdove, "Keerem! Towwáb!" ("Bountiful! Propitious!"--an ejaculation addressed to God); that of the common dove, "Waḥḥidoo rabbakumu-llezee khalaḳakum, yeghfir-lakum zembakum!" ("Assert the unity of your Lord who created you, so will He forgive you your sin!") but I afterwards found that several specimens of this language were given by Ez-Zamakhsheree, and had been published in Europe: see "Alcoranus Marraccii," p. 511. The cock cries, "Uzkuru-lláha, yá gháfiloon!" ("Commemorate God, O ye negligent!"): the ḳaṭà (a kind of grouse),[109] "Men seket selim!" ("He who is silent is safe!"). The latter, however, would do better if it did itself attend to the maxim it utters; for its cry, which, to the uninstructed in the language of birds, sounds merely, "ḳaṭà! ḳaṭà!" as its own name, tells where it is to be found by the sportsman, and thus causes its own destruction. Hence the proverb--"More veracious than the ḳaṭà." NOTE 31. In the houses of persons of the middle classes in Arabian countries, there is generally an apartment on the ground-floor fitted up as a stable for a horse, mule, or ass, or for two or more such animals; and the cattle of the farmer, if not very numerous, are usually lodged during the night in similar quarters, or in an open court enclosed within, or immediately adjacent to, his house. NOTE 32. It is a common custom in the East to sprinkle the ground, during the summer, in order to cool the air. NOTE 33. Cut straw is the usual fodder of asses and other beasts of burden in Egypt and other countries of the East. NOTE 34. The phrase with which the bull commences his address to the ass, is one dictated by an indispensable rule of Muslim politeness, which requires that these or some similar words should be uttered by a person whenever he sees another with food before him, and does not partake of it. If this were not done, it would be feared that the food had been poisoned, or rendered of no avail, by an envious eye. NOTE 35. The peasants in the East use a hand-mill for grinding their corn. The larger mills used for this and other purposes are turned by cattle. NOTE 36. In the Calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights, the ass is made to quote verses to the bull. Hast thou not, he asks him, heard the poet say:--