blaze."]

[158] The belief in amulets engraved on gems, or enclosed in gold boxes,
containing scraps from the Koran, worn round the neck, wrist, or arm, is
still universal in the East. The Koorsee (throne) verse in the second
cap. of the Koran describes the attributes of the Most High, and is
engraved in this manner, and worn by the pious, as the most esteemed and
sublime of all sentences.

[The _ayatu 'l kursiy_, or verse of the throne (Sura II. "Chapter of the
Heifer," v. 257), runs thus: "God, there is no God but He, the living
and self-subsistent. Slumber takes Him not, nor sleep. His is what is in
the heavens and what is in the earth. Who is it that intercedes with
Him, save by His permission? He knows what is before them, and what
behind them, and they comprehend not aught of His knowledge but of what
He pleases. His throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and it
tires Him not to guard them both, for He is high and grand."--The
_Qur'an_, translated by E. H. Palmer, 1880, Part I., _Sacred Books of
the East_, vi. 40.]

[159] "Comboloio"--a Turkish rosary. The MSS., particularly those of the
Persians, are richly adorned and illuminated. The Greek females are kept
in utter ignorance; but many of the Turkish girls are highly
accomplished, though not actually qualified for a Christian coterie.
Perhaps some of our own _"blues"_ might not be the worse for
_bleaching._

[The comboloio consists of ninety-nine beads. Compare _Lalla Rookh_
("Chandos Classics," p. 420), "Her ruby rosary," etc., and note on "Le
Tespih." _Lord Byron's Comboloio_ is the title of a metrical _jeu
d'esprit,_ a rhymed catalogue of the _Poetical Works,_ beginning with
_Hours of Idleness,_ and ending with _Cain, a Mystery_.--_Blackwood's
Magazine,_ 1822, xi. 162-165.]

[160] {182} [Shiraz, capital of the Persian province of Fars, is
celebrated for the attar-gul, or attar of roses.]

[gf] {183}
_Her Prophet did not clearly show_
_But Selim's place was quite secure_.--[MS.]

[161] [Compare _The Giaour_, line 490, note 1, _vide ante_, p. 110.]

[gg] _And one seemed red with recent guilt_.--[MS.]

[gh] {184} _Her Selim--"Alla--is it he?"_--[MS.]

[162] "Galiongee" or Galiongi [i.e. a Galleon-er], a sailor, that is, a
Turkish sailor; the Greeks navigate, the Turks work the guns. Their
dress is picturesque; and I have seen the Capitan Pacha, more than once,
wearing it as a kind of _incog_. Their legs, however, are generally
nake