He Was Fond Of Using Such Syriac Words As “Bakhun!
Bakhun!” to
Ali, and “Kakhun!
Kakhun!” to Hosayn. I will not enter into the curious
history of the latter word, which spread to Egypt, and, slightly
altered, passed through Latin mythology into French, English, German,
Italian, and other modern European tongues.
[FN#9] There is a regular language to camels. “Ikh! ikh!” makes them kneel;
“Yahh! Yahh!” urges them on; “Hai! Hai!” induces caution, and so on.
[FN#10] Both these names of the Almighty are of kindred origin. The
former is generally used when a woman is in danger of exposing her face
by accident, or an animal of falling.
[FN#11] A “birkat” in this part of Arabia may be an artificial cistern or a
natural basin; in the latter case it is smaller than a “ghadir.” This road
was a favourite with Harun al-Rashid, the pious tyrant who boasted that
every year he performed either a pilgrimage or a crusade. The reader
will find in d’Herbelot an account of the celebrated visit of Harun to
the Holy Cities. Nor less known in Oriental history is the pilgrimage
of Zubaydah Khatun (wife of Harun and mother of Amin) by this route.
[FN#12] Some believe this literally, others consider it a phrase
expressive of blood-thirstiness. It is the only suspicion of
cannibalism, if I may use the word, now attaching to Al-Hijaz. Possibly
the disgusting act may occasionally have taken place after a stern
fight of more than usual rancour. Who does not remember the account of
the Turkish officer licking his blood after having sabred the corpse of
a Russian spy? It is said that the Mutayr and the Utaybah are not
allowed to enter Meccah, even during the pilgrimage season.
[FN#13] Coloquintida is here used, as in most parts of the East,
medicinally. The pulp and the seeds of the ripe fruit are scooped out,
and the rind is filled with milk, which is exposed to the night air,
and drunk in the morning.
[FN#14] Used in Arabian medicine as a refrigerant and tonic. It abounds
in Sind and Afghanistan, where, according to that most practical of
botanists, the lamented Dr. Stocks, it is called “ishwarg.”
[FN#15] Here called Ashr. According to Seetzen it bears the long-sought
apple of Sodom. Yet, if truth be told, the soft green bag is as unlike
an apple as can be imagined; nor is the hard and brittle yellow rind of
the ripe fruit a whit more resembling. The Arabs use the thick and
acrid milk of the green bag with steel filings as a tonic, and speak
highly of its effects; they employ it also to intoxicate or narcotise
monkeys and other animals which they wish to catch. It is esteemed in
Hindu medicine. The Nubians and Indians use the filaments of the fruit
as tinder; they become white and shining as floss-silk. The Badawin
also have applied it to a similar purpose.
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