Page 138. Thy monarchs and their thousand thrones. "With this immense treasure Mamood returned to Ghizni, and in the year 400 prepared a magnificent festival, where he displayed to the people his wealth in golden thrones and in other ornaments, in a great plain without the city of Ghizni." - Ferishta. Page 140. blood like this, For Liberty shed, so holy is. Objections may be made to my use of the word Liberty, in this and more especially in the story that follows it, as totally inapplicable to any state of things that has ever existed in the East; but though I cannot, of course, mean to employ it in that enlarged and noble sense which is so well understood at the present day, and, I grieve to say, so little acted upon, yet it is no disparagement to the word to apply it to that national independence, that freedom from the interference and dictation of foreigners, without which, indeed, no liberty of kind can exist, and for which both Hindoos and Persians fought against their Mussulman invaders with, in many cases, a bravery that deserved much better success. any Page 141. Afric's Lunar Mountains. "Sometimes called," says Jackson, "Jibbel Kumrie, or the white or lunar-coloured mountains; so a white horse is called by the Arabians a moon-coloured horse." Page 144. Only the fierce hyæna stalks Throughout the city's desolate walks. "Gondar was full of hyænas from the time it turned dark till the dawn of day, seeking the different pieces of slaughtered carcasses, which this cruel and unclean people expose in the streets without burial, and who firmly believe. that these animals are Falashta from the neighbouring mountains, transformed by magic, and come down to eat human flesh in the dark in safety."— Bruce. Page 146. But see who yonder comes. This circumstance has been often introduced into poetry; -by Vincentius Fabricius, by Darwin, and lately, with very powerful effect, by Mr. Wilson. Page 153. And, Jordan, those sweet banks of thine, And woods, so full of nightingales. "The river Jordan is on both sides beset with little, thick, and pleasant woods, among which thousands of nightingales warble all together." - Thevenot. Page 155. On the brink Of a small imaret's rustic fount. Imaret, "hospice où on loge et nourrit, gratis, les pélerins pendant trois jours."- Toderini, translated by the Abbé de Cournand. -v. also Castellan's Mours des Othomans, tom. v. p. 145. ६ Page 156. The boy has started from the bed Of flowers, where he had laid his head, And down upon the fragrant sod Kneels. "Such Turks as at the common hours of prayer are on the road, or so employed as not to find convenience to attend the Mosques, are still obliged to execute that duty; nor are they ever known to fail, whatever business they are then about, but pray immediately when the hour alarms them, whatever they are about, in that very place they chance to stand on; insomuch that when a janissary, whom you have to guard you up and down the city, hears the notice which is given him from the steeples, he will turn about, stand still, and beckon with his hand, to tell his charge he must have patience for a while; when, taking out his handkerchief, he spreads it on the ground, sits cross-legged thereupon, and says his prayers, though in the open market, which, having ended, he leaps briskly up, salutes the person whom he undertook to convey, and renews his journey with the mild expression of ghell gohnnum ghell, or, Come, dear, follow me." - Aaron Hill's Travels. Page 158. The wild bees of Palestine. "Wild bees, frequent in Palestine, in hollow trunks or branches of trees, and the clefts of rocks. Thus it is said (Psalm 81.), honey out of the stony rock.'"- Burder's Oriental Customs. 6 Page 163. The Banyan Hospital. "This account excited a desire of visiting the Banyan Hospital, as I had heard much of their benevolence to all kinds of animals that were either sick, lame, or infirm, through age or accident. On my arrival there were presented to my view many horses, cows, and oxen, in one apartment; in another, dogs, sheep, goats, and monkeys, with clean straw for them to repose on. Above stairs were depositories for seeds of many sorts, and flat, broad dishes for water, for the use of birds and insects." - Parsons. It is said that all animals know the Banyans, that the most timid approach them, and that birds will fly nearer to them than to other people. - v. Grandpré. -v. Page 164. Whose sweetness was not to be drawn forth, like that of the fragrant grass near the Ganges, by crushing and trampling upon them. "A very fragrant grass from the banks of the Ganges, near Heridwar, which in some places covers whole acres, and diffuses when crushed a strong odour."-Sir W. Jones on the Spikenard of the Ancients. Page 167. Oriental Tales. Page 167. Waved plates of gold and silver flowers over their heads. "Or rather," says Scott, upon the passage of Ferishta, from which this is taken, "small coin, stamped with the figure of a flower. They are still used in India to distribute in charity, and, on occasion, thrown by the purse-bearers of the great among the populace." Page 168. His delectable alley of trees. This road is 250 leagues in length. It has "little pyramids or turrets," says Bernier," erected every half league, to mark the ways, and frequent wells to afford drink to passengers, and to water the young trees." Page 170. On the clear, cold waters of which floated multitudes of the beautiful red lotus. "Here is a large pagoda by a tank, on the water of which float multitudes of the beautiful red lotus: the flower is larger than that of the white water-lily, and is the most lovely of the nymphæas I have seen.". Mrs. Graham's Journal of a Residence in India. Who many Page 172. hundred years since had fled hither from their Arab conquerors. "On les voit persécutés par les Khalifes se retirer dans les montagnes du Kerman: plusieurs choisirent pour retraite la Tartarie et la Chine; d'autres s'arrêtèrent sur les bords du Gange, à l'est de Delhi."-M. Anquetil, Mémoires de l'Academie, tom. xxxi. p. 346. |