d_ is equally celebrated as an unhappy
_amant_ who perished for _Shirin_.

[215] The word _salam_, "salutation," is used idiomatically in the
sense of our terms "compliments" or "respects," &c. And in that sense
it has now become, in India, adopted into the English language.

[216] The marriage portion here alluded to is not to be taken in the
vague sense we attach to the term. The word _mahar_ denotes a present
made to, or a portion settled on, the wife at or before marriage.

[217] _Nimroz_ is that part of Persia which comprehends the provinces
of _Sijistan_ and _Mikran_, towards the south-east.

[218] The _man_, commonly called "maund," a measure of weight, about
eighty pounds avoirdupois.

[219] It is needless here to enumerate the stores of various articles
detailed in the original, as they will all be found in the vocabulary.

[220] Literally, "her own leavings." In the East it considered a very
high compliment on the part of a person of rank to present his guest
with the remnants of his own dish.

[221] Literally, "night of power or grandeur," would in that place
be "without grandeur." The _shabi kadr_, or as the Arabs have it,
_lailatu-l-kadri_, is a sacred festival held on the 27th of _Ramazan_,
being, according to the _Musalmans_, the night on which the _Kur,an_
was sent down from heaven.

[222] Meaning that, under present circumstances, her commands were
altogether out of place.

[223] It is incumbent on good Mussulmans to wash the hands and face
before prayers. Where water is not to be had, this ceremony, called
_tayammum_ is performed by using sand instead.

[224] _Lukman_ is supposed to be the Greek slave AEsop, the author
of the Fables. _Bu 'Ali Sina_ is the famous Arab physician and
philosopher, by mediaeval writers erroneously called Avicenna.

[225] _Khizr_ or _Khwaja Khizr_ is the name of a saint or prophet,
of great notoriety among the _Muhammadans_. The legends respecting
his origin and life are as numerous as they are absurd and
contradictory. Some say he was grand _Vizir_ to Solomon, others to
Alexander the Great. They all agree, however, that he discovered the
water of immortality, and that in consequence of having drunk thereof,
he still lives and wanders about on the earth.

[226] _Kasra_ is the title of the King of Persia, hence the Greek forms
Cyrus and Chosroes, and most probably the more modern forms Caesar,
Kaisar, and Czar. The form _Kisra_ used in the text is generally