Note 109, p. 74.-Of MECCA'S sun, with urns of Persian snow.

"Nivem Meccam apportavit, rem ibi aut nunquam aut raro visam." -Abulfeda.

Note 110, p. 74.-First, in the van, the People of the Rock.

The inhabitants of Hejaz or Arabia Petræa, called by an Eastern writer "The People of the Rock." (See Ebn Haukal.)

Note III, p. 74.--On their light mountain steeds, of royal stock.

"Those horses, called by the Arabians Kochlani, of whom a written genealogy has been kept for 2,coo years. They are said to derive their origin from King Solomon's steeds."-Niebuhr.

Note 112, p. 74.—The flashing of their swords' rich marquetry.

66

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. Note 113, p. 74.-With dusky legions from the land of Myrrh. Azab or Saba,

Note 114, p. 75.-Waving their heron crests with martial grace. "The chiefs of the Uzbek Tartars wear a plume of white heron's feathers in their turbans."-Account of Independent Tartary.

Note 115, p. 75. — Wild warriors of the turquoise hills.

"In the mountains of Nishapour and Tous (in Khorassan) they find turquoises."-Ebn Haukal.

Note 116, p. 75.-Of HINDOO KOSH, in stormy freedom bred. For a description of these stupendous ranges of mountains, see Elphinstone's Caubul.

Note 117, p. 75.—Her Worshippers of Fire.

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.

Note 118, p. 75.—From YEZD's eternal Mansion of the Fire.

"Yezd, the chief residence of those ancient natives who worship the Sun and the Fire, which latter they have carefully kept lighted, without being once extinguished for a moment, about 3,000 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.

Note 119, p. 75.-That burn into the CASPIAN, fierce they came.

"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.

Note 120, p. 76.—By which the prostrate Caravan is aw'd.

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 passes 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 colour of blood. Sometimes whole caravans are buried in it."

Note 121, p. 76.--The Champions of the Faith through BEDER'S

vale.

In the great victory gained by Mahomed at Beder, he was assisted, say the Mussulmans, by three thousand angels, led by Gabriel, mounted on his horse Hiazum. (See The Koran and its Commentators.)

Note 122, p. 78." Alla Akbar!"

The Tecbir, or cry of the Arabs. "Alla Acbar!" says Ockley, means "God is most mighty."

Note 123, p. 78.—And light your shrines and chaunt your ziraleets. The ziraleet is a kind of chorus, which the women of the East sing upon joyful occasions.-Russel.

Note 124, p. 79.—Or warm or brighten,-like that Syrian Lake. The Dead Sea, which contains neither animal nor vegetable life.

Note 125, p. 81.-O'er his lost throne-then pass'd the JIHON'S flood.

The ancient Oxus.

Note 126, p. 81.-Rais'd the white banner within NEKSHEB's gates. A city of Transoxiana.

Note 127, p. 81.—To-day's young flower is springing in its stead.

"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-coloured flowers), others come forth in their stead," &c. &c.-Nieuhoff.

Note 128, p. 82.—With which the Dives have gifted him.

The Demons of the Persian mythology.

Note 129, p. 82.-That spangle INDIA'S fields on showery nights. Carreri mentions the fire-flies in India during the rainy season. (See his Travels.)

Note 130, p. 83.—Who brush'd the thousands of the Assyrian King. Sennacherib, called by the Orientals King of Moussal.-D'Herbelot.

Note 131, p. 83.-Of PARVIZ.

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.

Note 132, p. 83.-And the heron crest that shone.

"The crown of Gerashid 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.)

Note 133, p. 83.-Magnificent, o'er ALI's beauteous eyes.

The beauty of Ali's eyes was so remarkable, that whenever the Persians would describe anything as very lovely, they say it is Ayn Hali, or the Eyes of Ali. -Chardin.

Note 134, p. 83.-Rise from the Holy Well, and cast its light.

We are not told more of this trick of the Impostor, than that it was "une machine qu'il disoit être la Lune." According to Richardson, the miracle is perpetuated in Nekscheb.-" Nakshab, the name of a city in Transoxiana, where they say there is a well, in which the appearance of the moon is to be seen night and day."

Note 135, p. 84.-Round the rich city and the plain for miles.

"Il amusa pendant deux mois le peuple de la ville de Nekscheb, en faisant sortir toutes les nuits du fond d'un puits un corps lumineux semblable à la Lune, qui portoit sa lumière jusqu'à la distance de plusieurs milles."-D'Herbelot. Hence he was called Sazendéhmah, or the Moon-maker.

Note 136, p. 85.-Had rested on the Ark.

The Shechinah, called Sakînat in the Koran. (See Sale's Note, chap. ii.)

Note 137, p. 85.-Of the small drum with which they count the

night.

The parts of the night are made known as well by instruments of music, as by the rounds of the watchmen with cries and small drums. (See Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. i. p. 119.)

Note 138, p. 85.—On for the lamps, that light yon lofty screen.

The Serrapurda, high screens of red cloth, stiffened with cane, used to enclose a considerable space round the royal tents.-Notes on the Bahardanush.

The tents of Princes were generally illuminated. that the tent of the Bey of Girge was distinguished tents by forty lanterns being suspended before it. Observations on Job.)

Norden tells us from the other (See Harmer's

Note 139, p. 85.-Pour to the spot, like bees of KAUZEROON. "From the groves of orange trees at Kauzeroon the bees cull a celebrated honey."-Morier's Travels.

Note 140, p. 87.—Of nuptial pomp, she sinks into his tide.

"A custom still subsisting at this day seems to me to prove that the Egyptians formerly sacrificed a young virgin to the God of the Nile; for they now make a statue of earth in shape of a girl, to which they give the name of the Betrothed Bride, and throw it into the river." -Savary.

Note 141, p. 88. --Engines of havoc in, unknown before.

That they knew the secret of the Greek fire among the Mussulmans early in the eleventh century, appears from Dow's Account of Mamood I. "When he arrived at Moultan, finding that the country of the Jits was defended by great rivers, he ordered fifteen hundred boats to be built,

each of which he armed with six iron spikes, projecting from their prows and sides, to prevent their being boarded by the enemy, who were very expert in that kind of war. When he had launched this fleet, he ordered twenty archers into each boat, and five others with fire-balls, to burn the craft of the Jits, and naphtha to set the whole river on fire."

The agnee aster, too, in Indian poems the Instrument of Fire, whose flame cannot be extinguished, is supposed to signify the Greek fire. (See Wilks's South of India, vol. i. p. 471.) And in the curious Javan Poem, the Brata Yudha, given by Sir Stamford Raffles in his History of Java, we find, "He aimed at the heart of Soéta with the sharppointed Weapon of Fire."

The mention of gunpowder as in use among the Arabians, long before its supposed discovery in Europe, is introduced by Ebn Fadhl, the Egyptian geographer, who lived in the thirteenth century. Bodies, he says, "in the form of scorpions, bound round and filled with nitrous powder, glide along, making a gentle noise; then, exploding, they lighten, as it were, and burn. But there are others which, cast into the air, stretch along like a cloud, roaring horribly, as thunder roars, and on all sides vomiting out flames, burst, burn, and reduce to cinders whatever comes in their way." The historian Ben Abdalla, in speaking of the sieges of Abulualid in the year of the Hegira 712, says, "A fiery globe, by means of combustible matter, with a mighty noise suddenly emitted, strikes with the force of lightning, and shakes the citadel." (See the extracts from Casiri's Biblioth. Arab. Hispan. in the Appendix to Berington's Literary History of the Middle Ages.)

Note 142, p. 88. —And horrible as new ;—javelins that fly. The Greek fire, that was occasionally lent by the emperors to their allies. "It was," says Gibbon, "either launched in red-hot balls of stone and iron, or darted in arrows or javelins, twisted round with flax and tow, which had deeply imbibed the inflammable oil."

Note 143, p. 88.-Discharge, as from a kindled Naphtha fount.

See Hanway's Account of the Springs of Naphtha at Baku (which is called by Lieutenant Pottinger "Joala Mokee," or the Flaming Mouth) taking fire and running into the sea. Dr. Cooke, in his Journal, mentions some wells in Circassia, strongly impregnated with this inflammable oil, from which issues boiling water. "Though the weather," he adds, "was now very cold, the warmth of these wells of hot water produced near them the verdure and flowers of spring."