The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore Part 168

[75] The Persians, like the ancient Greeks call their musical modes or Perdas by the names of different countries or cities, as the mode of Isfahan, the mode of Irak, etc.

[76] A river which flows near the ruins of Chilminar.

[77] "To the north of us (on the coast of the Caspian, near Badku,) was a mountain, which sparkled like diamonds, arising from the sea-gla.s.s and crystals with which it abounds."--_Journey of the Russian Amba.s.sador to Persia_, 1746.

[78] "To which will be added, the sound of the bells, hanging on the trees, which will be put in motion by the wind proceeding from the throne of G.o.d, as often as the blessed wish for music."--_Sale_.

[79] "Whose wanton eyes resemble blue water-lilies, agitated by the breeze."--_Jayadeva_.

[80] The blue lotos, which grows in Cashmere and in Persia.

[81] It has been generally supposed that the Mahometans prohibit all pictures of animals; but _Toderini_ shows that, though the practice is forbidden by the Koran, they are not more averse to painted figures and images than other people. From Mr. Murphy's work, too, we find that the Arabs of Spain had no objection to the introduction of figures into Painting.

[82] This is not quite astronomically true. "Dr. Hadley [says Keil] has shown that Venus is brightest when she is about forty degrees removed from the sun; and that then but _only a fourth part_ of her lucid disk is to be seen from the earth."

[83] The wife of Potiphar, thus named by the Orientals. The pa.s.sion which this frail beauty of antiquity conceived for her young Hebrew slave has given rise to a much esteemed poem in the Persian language, ent.i.tled _Yusef vau Zelikha_, by _Noureddin Jami;_ the ma.n.u.script copy of which, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, is supposed to be the finest in the whole world."--_Note upon Nott's Translation of Hafez_."

[84] The particulars of Mahomet's amour with Mary, the Coptic girl, in justification of which he added a new chapter to the Koran, may be found in _Gagnier's Notes upon Abulfeda_, p. 151.

[85] "Deep blue is their mourning color." _Hanway_.

[86] The sorrowful nyctanthes, which begins to spread its rich odor after sunset.

[87] "Concerning the vipers, which Pliny says were frequent among the balsam-trees, I made very particular inquiry; several were brought me alive both to Yambo and Jidda."--_Bruce_.

[88] In the territory of Istkahar there is a kind of apple, half of which is sweet and half sour.--_Ebn Haukal_.

[89] "The place where the Whangho, a river of Tibet, rises, and where there are more than a hundred springs, which sparkle like stars; whence it is called Hotun-nor, that is, the Sea of Stars."--_Description of Tibet in Pinkerton_.

[90] "The Lescar or Imperial Camp is divided, like a regular town, into squares, alleys, and streets, and from a rising ground furnishes one of the most agreeable prospects in the world. Starting up in a few hours in an uninhabited plain, it raises the idea of a city built by enchantment.

Even those who leave their houses in cities to follow the prince in his progress are frequently so charmed with the Lescar, when situated in a beautiful and convenient place, that they cannot prevail with themselves to remove. To prevent this inconvenience to the court, the Emperor, after sufficient time is allowed to the tradesmen to follow, orders them to be burnt out of their tents."--_Dow's Hindostan_.

[91] The edifices of Chilminar and Balbec are supposed to have been built by the Genii, acting under the orders of Jan ben Jan, who governed the world long before the time of Adam.

[92] "A superb camel, ornamented with strings and tufts of small sh.e.l.ls."--_Ali Bey_.

[93] A native of Khora.s.san, and allured southward by means of the water of a fountain between s.h.i.+raz and Ispahan, called the Fountain of Birds, of which it is so fond that it will follow wherever that water is carried.

[94] "Some of the camels have bells about their necks, and some about their legs, like those which our carriers put about their fore-horses'

necks, which together with the servants (who belong to the camels, and travel on foot), singing all night, make a pleasant noise, and the journey pa.s.ses away delightfully."--_Pitt's_ Account of the Mahometans.

"The camel-driver follows the camels singing, and sometimes playing upon his pipe; the louder he sings and pipes, the faster the camels go. Nay, they will stand still when he gives over his music."--_Tavernier_.

[95] "This trumpet is often called, in Abyssinia, _nesser cano_, which signifies the Note of the Eagle."--_Note of Bruce's Editor_.

[96] The two black standards borne before the Caliphs of the House of Abbas were called, allegorically, The Night and The Shadow.--See _Gibbon_.

[97] The Mohometan religion.

[98] "The Persians swear by the Tomb of Shad Besade, who is buried at Casbin; and when one desires another to a.s.severate a matter he will ask him, if he dare swear by the Holy Grave."--_Struy_.

[99] Mahadi, in a single pilgrimage to Mecca, expended six millions of dinars of gold.

[100] The inhabitants of Hejaz or Arabia Petraea, called by an Eastern writer "The People of the Rock."--_Ebn Haukal_.

[101] "Those horses, called by the Arabians Kochlani, of whom a written genealogy has been kept for 2000 years. They are said to derive their origin from King Solomon's steeds."--_Niebuhr_.

[102] "Many of the figures on the blades of their swords are wrought in gold or silver, or in marquetry with small gems."--_Asiat. Misc_. v. i.

[103] Azab or Saba.

[104] "The chiefs of the Uzbek Tartars wear a plume of white heron's feathers in their turbans."--_Account of Independent Tartary_.

[105] In the mountains of Nishapour and Tous in (Khora.s.san) they find turquoises.--_Ebn Huukal_.

[106] The Ghebers or Guebres, those original natives of Persia, who adhered to their ancient faith, the religion of Zoroaster, and who, after the conquest of their country by the Arabs, were either persecuted at home, or forced to become wanderers abroad.

[107] "Yezd, the chief residence of those ancient natives who wors.h.i.+p the Sun and the Fire, which latter they have carefully kept lighted, without being once extinguished for a moment, about 3000 years, on a mountain near Yezd, called Ater Quedah, signifying the House or Mansion of the Fire. He is reckoned very unfortunate who dies off that mountain."--_Stephen's Persia_.

[108] When the weather is hazy, the springs of Naphtha (on an island near Baku) boil up the higher, and the Naphtha often takes fire on the surface of the earth, and runs in a flame into the sea to a distance almost incredible."--_Hanway on the Everlasting Fire at Baku_.

[109] _Savary_ says of the south wind, which blows in Egypt from February to May, "Sometimes it appears only in the shape of an impetuous whirlwind, which pa.s.ses rapidly, and is fatal to the traveller, surprised in the middle of the deserts. Torrents of burning sand roll before it, the firmament is enveloped in a thick veil, and the sun appears of the color of blood. Sometimes whole caravans are buried in it."

[110] In the great victory gained by Mahomed at Beder, he was a.s.sisted, say the Mussulmans, by three thousand angels led by Gabriel mounted on his horse Hiazum.--See _The Koran and its Commentators_.

[111] The Techir, or cry of the Arabs. "Alla Acbar!" says Ockley, means, "G.o.d is most mighty."

[112] The ziraleet is a kind of chorus, which the women of the East sing upon joyful occasions.

[113] The Dead Sea, which contains neither animal nor vegetable life.

[114] The ancient Oxus.

[115] A city of Transoxiana.

[116] "You never can cast your eyes on this tree, but you meet there either blossoms or fruit; and as the blossom drops underneath on the ground (which is frequently covered with these purple-colored flowers), others come forth in their stead," etc.--_Nieuhoff_.

[117] The Demons of the Persian mythology.

[118] Carreri mentions the fire-flies in India during the rainy season.--See his Travels.

[119] Sennacherib, called by the Orientals King of Moussal.--_D'Herbelot_.

[120] Chosroes. For the description of his Throne or Palace, see _Gibbon and D'Herbelot_.

There were said to be under this Throne or Palace of Khosrou Parviz a hundred vaults filled with "treasures so immense that some Mahometan writers tell us, their Prophet to encourage his disciples carried them to a rock which at his command opened and gave them a prospect through it of the treasures of Khosrou."--_Universal History_.

[121] "The crown of Geras.h.i.+d is cloudy and tarnished before the heron tuft of thy turban."--From one of the elegies or songs in praise of Ali, written in characters of gold round the gallery of Abbas's tomb.--See _Chardin_.