Mahometan _shabi barat_.

[248] Plato is supposed by the _Muhammadans_ to have been not only
a profound philosopher, but a wise physician. In short, it is too
general an idea with them, that a clever man must be a good doctor.

[249] The _langot_ or _langoti_ is a piece of cloth wrapped or fastened
round the loins, and tucked in between the feet. It barely conceals
what civilization requires should be hid from the public view.

[250] _Ma'jun_ is the extract from the intoxicating plant called
_charas_ or _bhang_, a species of hemp; it is mixed with sugar and
spices to render it palatable. The inebriation it produces fills the
imagination with agreeable visions, and the effects are different
from those of wine or spirits.

[251] Six _mashas_ amount to nearly a quarter of an ounce; a sicca
rupee weighs eleven _mashas_.

[252] Literally, "a volume of a book."

[253] This exceedingly absurd story is of Rabbinical origin. I have
a strong impression on my mind of having read something very like it
long ago in the works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus.

[254] The _Ismi A'zam_, or the "Most Mighty Name" [of God] is a
magic spell or incantation which the acquirer can apply to wonderful
purposes. God hath, among the _Muhammadans_, ninety-nine names or
epithets; the _Ismi A'zam_ is one of the number, but it is only the
initiated few who can say which of the ninety-nine it is.

[255] The word _sawab_ strictly means, "the reward received in the
next world for virtuous actions performed in the present state of
existence."

[256] The veiled horseman who rescued the first and second _Darweshes_
from self-destruction.

[257] A Persian proverb.

[258] _Badakhshan_ is a part of the grand province of _Khurasan_,
and the city of _Balkh_ is its metropolis, to the eastward of which
is a chain of mountains celebrated for producing fine rubies.

[259] All Asiatic princes, like others nearer home, have spies, called
"reporters of intelligence," who inform themselves of what passes
in public. They are, as a matter of course, the pest of society,
and generally corrupt.

[260] A _miskal_ is four and a half _mashas_; our ounce contains
twenty-four _mashas_. So the ruby weighed more than half an ounce.

[261] The word _raja_ is the _Hindu_ term for a prince or sovereign. In
more recent times it has become a mere empty title, conferred upon
rich _Hindus_ by the Emperor of _Delhi_.

[262] _Naishapur_ was once the riche