when a water-spout or a sand-devil （called Shaytan also in Arabia）
approaches，you point the index at the Jinn and say，'Iron，O thou ill-omened one！'Amongst the Ancient Egyptians the metal was ill-omened being the bones of Typhon，80 here，possibly，we have an instance of early homoeopathy--similia similibus.
[513] Probably fermented to a kind of wine. The insipid fruit （Unnab） which looks like an apple in miniature，is much used in stews，etc. It is the fruit （Nabak classically Nabik） of Rhamnus Nabeca （or Sidrat） also termed Zizyphus Jujuba，seu Spina Christi because fabled to have formed the crown of thorns：in the English market this plum is called Chinese Japonica. I have described it in Pilgrimage ii. 205，and have noticed the infusion of the leaves for washing the dead （ibid. ii. 105）：this is especially the use of the 'Ber'in India，where the leaves are superstitiously held peculiarly pure. Our dictionaries translate 'Sidr'by 'Lote-tree'；and no wonder that believers in Homeric writ feel their bile aroused by so poor a realisation of the glorious myth. The Homerids probably alluded to Hashish or Bhang.
[514] Arab. 'Azrar'：the open collar of the Saub （'Tobe'） or long loose dress is symptomatic. The Eastern button is on the same principle as ours （both having taken the place of the classical fibula）；but the Moslem affects a loop （like those to which we attach our 'frogs'） and utterly ignores a button-hole.
[515] Alluding to the ceremonious circumambulation of the Holy House at Meccah：a notable irreverence worthy of Kneph-town （Canopus）.
[516] The ear-drop is the penis and the anklet its crown of glory.
[517] Equivalent to our 'Alas！ Alas！'which，by the by，no one ever says. 'Awah，'like 'Yauh，'is now a woman's word although used by Al-Hariri （Assembly of Basrah） and so Al-awwah=one who cries from grief 'Awah.'A favourite conversational form is 'Yehh'with the aspirate exasperated，but it is an expression of astonishment rather than sorrow. It enters into Europe travel-books.
[518] In the text 'burst her gall-bladder.'
[519] The death of Azizah is told with true Arab pathos and simplicity：it still draws tear. from the eyes of the Badawi，and I never read it without a 'lump in the throat.'
[520] Arab. 'Inshallah bukra！'a universal saying which is the horror of travellers.
[521] I have explained 'Nu'uman's flower'as the anemone which in Grecised Arabic is 'Anumiya.'Here they are strewed over the tomb；often the flowers are planted in a small bed of mould sunk in the upper surface.
[522] Arab. 'Barzakh'lit. a bar，a partition：in the Koran （chapts. xxiii. and xxxv.） the space or the place between death and resurrection where souls are stowed away. It corresponds after a fashion with the classical Hades and the Limbus （Limbo） of Christendom，e.g.. Limbus patrum，infantum，fatuorum. But it must not be confounded with Al-A'araf，The Moslem purgatory.
[523] Arab. 'Zukak al-Nakib，'the latter word has been explained as a chief，leader，head man.