To ride out of Damascus and have a chat with the Ruwala is much like being suddenly transferred from amongst the trickiest of Mediterranean people to the bluff society of the Scandinavian North.And the reason why the Turk will never govern the Arab in peace is that the former is always trying to finesse and to succeed by falsehood，when the truth，the whole truth and nothing but the truth is wanted.
[146]Koran.xvi.112.
[147]A common and expressive way of rewarding the tongue which 'spoke poetry.' The Jewels are often pearls.
[148]Ibrahim Abu Ishak bin al-Mahdi，a pretender to the Caliphate of well known wit and a famed musician surnamed from his corpulence 'Al-Tannin'=the Dragon or，according to others （Lane ii.336），'Al-Tin'= the fig.His adventurous history will be found in Ibn Khallikan D'Herbelot and Al-Siyuti.
[149]The Ragha of the Zendavesta，and Rages of the Apocrypha （Tobit，Judith，etc.），the old capital-of Media Proper，and seat of government of Daylam，now a ruin some miles south of Teheran which was built out of its remains.Rayy was founded by Hoshang the primeval-king who first sawed wood，made doors and dug metal.It is called Rayy al-Mahdiyyah because Al-Mahdi held his court there.
Harun al-Rashid was also born in it （A.H.145）.It is mentioned by a host of authors and names one of the Makamat of Al-Hariri.
[150]Human blood being especially impure.
[151]Jones，Brown and Robinson.
[152]Arab.'Kumm ，' the Moslem sleeve is mostly （like his trousers） of ample dimensions and easily converted into a kind of carpet-bag by depositing small articles in the middle and gathering up the edge in the hand.In this way carried the weight would be less irksome than hanging to the waist.The English of Queen Anne's day had regular sleeve-pockets for memoranda，etc.，hence the saying，to have in one's sleeve.
[153]Arab.'Khuff' worn under the 'Babug' （a corruption of the Persian pa-push=feet-covers，papooshes，slippers）.[Lane M.E.chaps.i.]
[154]Done in hot weather throughout the city，a dry line for camels being left in mid-street to prevent the awkward beasts slipping.The watering of the Cairo streets of late years has been excessive； they are now lines of mud in summer as well as in winter and the effluvia from the droppings of animals have，combined with other causes，seriously deteriorated the once charming climate.The only place in Lower Egypt，which has preserved the atmosphere of 1850，is Suez.
[155]Arab.'Hurak：' burnt rag，serving as tinder for flint and steel，is a common styptic.
[156]Of this worthy，something has been said and there will be more in a future page.
[157]i.e.the person entitled to exact the blood-wite.
[158]Al-Maamum was a man of sense with all his fanaticism One of his sayings is preserved 'Odious is contentiousness in Kings，more odious vexation in judges uncomprehending a case； yet more odious is shallowness of doctors in religions and most odious are avarice in the rich，idleness in youth，jesting in age and cowardice in the soldier.'
[159]The second couplet is not in the Mac.Edit.but Lane's Shaykh has supplied it （ii.339）
[160]Adam's loins，the 'Day of Alast，' and the Imam （who stands before the people in prayer） have been explained.The 'Seventh Imam' here is Al-Maamun，the seventh Abbaside the Ommiades being，as usual，ignored.
[161]He sinned only for the pleasure of being pardoned，which is poetical-and hardly practical-or probable.
[162]The Kata （sand-grouse） always enters into Arab poetry because it is essentially a desert bird，and here the comparison is good because it lays its eggs in the waste far from water which it must drink morning and evening.Its cry is interpreted 'man sakat，salam' （silent and safe），but it does not practice that precept，for it is usually betrayed by its piping ' Kata！ Kata！' Hence the proverb，'More veracious than the sand-grouse，' and 'speak not falsely，for the Kata sayeth sooth，' is Komayt's saying.It is an emblem of swiftness： when the brigand poet Shanfara boasts，'The ash-coloured Katas can drink only my leavings，after hastening all night to slake their thirst in the morning，' it is a hyperbole boasting of his speed.In Sind it is called the 'rock pigeon' and it is not unlike a grey partridge when on the wing.
[163]Joseph to his brethren，Koran，xii.92，when he gives them his 'inner garment' to throw over his father's face.
[164]Arab.'Hajjam'=a cupper who scarifies forehead and legs，a bleeder，a （blood-） sucker.The slang use of the term is to thrash，lick，wallop.（Burckhardt.Prov.34.）
[165]The Bresl.Edit.（vii.171-174） entitles this tale，'Story of Shaddad bin Ad and the City of Iram the Columned ；' but it relates chiefly to the building by the King of the First Adites who，being promised a future Paradise by Prophet Hud，impiously said that he would lay out one in this world.It also quotes Ka'ab al-Ahbar as an authority for declaring that the tale is in the 'Pentateuch of Moses.' Iram was in al-Yaman near Adan （our Aden） a square of ten parasangs （or leagues each= 18，000 feet） every way，the walls were of red （baked） brick 500 cubits high and 20 broad，with four gates of corresponding grandeur.It contained 300，000Kasr （palaces） each with a thousand pillars of gold-bound jasper，etc.（whence its title）.