bestowed on a person
when he is appointed to a new situation.

[337] Literally, "who could hit a _kauri_ suspended by a hair." The
_kauri_ is a small round shell used to denote the minutest denomination
of money. In Bengal it is about the hundredth part of a _paisa_.

[338] The _nazar_ or _pesh-kash_ is a sum of money, &c., which,
all oriental officials pay to the prince of the country, or to his
favourites, &c., when appointed to their situations. Some people
say that such things are done nearer home, with this difference,
that among us it is a private transaction; whereas, in the East,
it is an open one.

[339] _ja-girs_ are donations of lands, or, rather, of the revenues
arising from a certain portion of land; strictly speaking, such
a grant is a reward for military service, though it is sometimes
bestowed without that condition.

[340] As the _Musalmans_ reckon their day from sun-set, this is
no _bull_.

[341] Literally, "the third fault is that of the mother."

[342] The king here resumes his address to the four darweshes.

[343] A proverb synonymous to ours, of "What is bred in the bone,
will never come out of the flesh."

[344] The _tawa_ is a circular plate of malleable or cast iron,
used for baking cakes or bannocks. It is slightly convex, like a
watch-glass, on the upper side, where the bread is laid on; the under
or concave side being, of course perfectly black. In Scotland, and in
the northern counties of England, this domestic implement is called
"the girdle," and is still in common use in places remote from towns.

[345] Till recently a province of Persia; the northern part of ancient
Media. It is now, alas! fallen into the deadly grasp of the unholy
Muscovite.

[346] A kind of pea common in India; it is the ordinary food of horses,
oxen, camels, &c., likewise of the native. By Europeans it is generally
called _grum_ or "_graum_."

[347] The _Muhammadans_ believe that on the day of judgment all who
have died will assemble on a vast plain, to hear their sentences from
the mouth of God; so the reader may naturally conceive the size of
the plain.

[348] The _surma_ is a black powder made of antimony, which the Asiatic
women use on their eyelids, to give a superior lustre to their black or
hazel eyes; when applied with taste, it certainly has that effect. It
is likewise used for sore eyes, but I cannot say with what success.

[349] _Chummak_ is the Turkish name for a kind of _baton_ set with