Part 18
p. 156.—_The Banyan Hospital._—“This account excited a desire of visiting the Banyan Hospital, as I had heard much of their benevolence to all kinds of animals that were either sick, lame, or infirm, through age or accident. On my arrival, there were presented to my view many horses, cows, and oxen, in one apartment; in another, dogs, sheep, goats, and monkeys, with clean straw for them to repose on. Above stairs were depositories for seeds of many sorts, and flat, broad dishes for water, for the use of birds and insects.”—_Parson_’s Travels.
It is said that all animals know the Banyans, that the most timid approach them, and that birds will fly nearer to them than to other people.—See _Grandpré_.
Footnote 201:
p. 157.—_Like that of the fragrant grass near the Ganges._—“A very fragrant grass from the banks of the Ganges, near Heridwar, which in some places covers whole acres, and diffuses, when crushed, a strong odour.”—_Sir W. Jones_, on the Spikenard of the Ancients.
Footnote 202:
p. 157.—_No one had ever yet reached its summit._—“Near this is a curious hill, called Koh Talism, the Mountain of the Talisman, because, according to the traditions of the country, no person ever succeeded in gaining its summit.”—_Kinneir._
Footnote 203:
p. 158.—_Is warmed into life by the eyes alone._—“The Arabians believe that the ostriches hatch their young by only looking at them.”—_P. Vanslebe, Rélat. d’Egypte._
Footnote 204:
p. 159.—_And then lost them again for ever._—See _Sale_’s Koran, note, vol. ii. p. 484.
Footnote 205:
p. 159.—_While the artisans in chariots._—Oriental Tales.
Footnote 206:
p. 160.—_Who kept waving over their heads plates of gold and silver flowers._—Ferishta. “Or rather,” says _Scott_, upon the passage of Ferishta, from which this is taken, “small coins, stamped with the figure of a flower. They are still used in India to distribute in charity, and, on occasion, thrown by the purse-bearers of the great among the populace.”
Footnote 207:
p. 160.—_Alley of trees._—The fine road made by the emperor Jehan-Guire from Agra to Lahore, planted with trees on each side. This road is 250 leagues in length. It has “little pyramids or turrets,” says _Fernier_, “erected every half league, to mark the ways, and frequent wells to afford drink to passengers, and to water the young trees.”
Footnote 208:
p. 162.—_That favourite tree of the luxurious bird that lights up the chambers of its nest with fire-flies._—The Baya, or Indian Gross-beak.—_Sir W. Jones._
Footnote 209:
p. 162.—_On the clear cold waters of which floated multitudes of the beautiful red lotus._—“Here is a large pagoda by a tank, on the water of which float multitudes of the beautiful red lotus; the flower is larger than that of the white water-lily, and is the most lovely of the nymphæas I have seen.”—_Mrs. Graham_’s Journal of a Residence in India.
Footnote 210:
p. 163.—_Had fled hither from their Arab conquerors._—“On les voit persécutés par les Khalifes se retirer dans les montagnes du Kerman: plusieurs choisirent pour retraite la Tartarie et la Chine; d’autres s’arrêtè-rent sur les bords du Gange, à l’est de Delhi.”—_M. Anquetil_, Mémoires de l’Académie, tom. xxxi. p. 346.
Footnote 211:
p. 163.—_Like their own Fire in the Burning Field at Bakou._—The “Ager ardens” described by _Kæmpfer, Amœnitat. Exot._
Footnote 212:
p. 164.—_The prey of strangers._—“Cashmere (says its historians) had its own princes 4000 years before its conquest by Akbar in 1585. Akbar would have found some difficulty to reduce this paradise of the Indies, situated as it is within such a fortress of mountains, but its monarch, Yusef-Khan, was basely betrayed by his Omrahs.”—_Pennant._
Footnote 213:
p. 164.—_Fire-worshippers._—Voltaire tells us that in his Tragedy, “Les Guèbres,” he was generally supposed to have alluded to the Jansenists. I should not be surprised if this story of the Fire-worshippers were found capable of a similar doubleness of application.
Footnote 214:
p. 169.—_’Tis moonlight over_ OMAN’S _sea._
The Persian Gulf, sometimes so called, which separates the shores of Persia and Arabia.
Footnote 215:
p. 169.—_’Tis moonlight in_ HARMOZIA’S _walls._
The present Gombaroon, a town on the Persian side of the Gulf.
Footnote 216:
p. 169.—_Of trumpet and the clash of zel._
A Moorish instrument of music.
Footnote 217:
p. 170.—_The wind-tower on the_ EMIR’S _dome._
“At Gombaroon and other places in Persia, they have towers for the purpose of catching the wind, and cooling the houses.”—_Le Bruyn._
Footnote 218:
p. 170.—_His race hath brought on_ IRAN’S _name._
“Iran is the true general name for the empire of Persia.”—_Asiat. Res._ Disc. 5.
Footnote 219:
p. 170.—_Engraven on his reeking sword._
“On the blades of their scimitars some verse from the Koran is usually inscribed.”—_Russel._
Footnote 220:
p. 171.—_Draw venom forth that drives men mad._
“There is a kind of Rhododendros about Trebizond, whose flowers the bee feeds upon, and the honey thence drives people mad.”—_Tournefort._
Footnote 221:
p. 172.—_Upon the turban of a king._
“Their kings wear plumes of black herons’ feathers upon the right side, as a badge of sovereignty.”—_Hanway._
Footnote 222:
p. 173.—_Springing in a desolate mountain._
“The Fountain of Youth, by a Mahometan tradition, is situated in some dark region of the East.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 223:
p. 173.—_On summer-eves, through_ YEMEN’S _dales._
Arabia Felix.
Footnote 224:
p. 174.—_Who, lull’d in cool kiosk or bower._
“In the midst of the garden is the chiosk, that is, a large room, commonly beautified with a fine fountain in the midst of it. It is raised nine or ten steps, and inclosed with gilded lattices, round which vines, jessamines, and honeysuckles, make a sort of green wall; large trees are planted round this place, which is the scene of their greatest pleasures.”—_Lady M. W. Montague._
Footnote 225:
p. 174.—_Before their mirrors count the time._
The women of the East are never without their looking-glasses. “In Barbary,” says _Shaw_, “they are so fond of their looking-glasses, which they hang upon their breasts, that they will not lay them aside, even when after the drudgery of the day they are obliged to go two or three miles with a pitcher or a goat’s skin to fetch water.”—_Travels._
In other parts of Asia they wear little looking-glasses on their thumbs. “Hence (and from the lotus being considered the emblem of beauty) is the meaning of the following mute intercourse of two lovers before their parents:—
“‘He, with salute of deference due, A lotus to his forehead prest; She rais’d her mirror to his view, Then turn’d it inward to her breast.’”
_Asiatic Miscellany_, vol. ii.
Footnote 226:
p. 174.—_Upon the emerald’s virgin blaze._
“They say that if a snake or serpent fix his eyes on the lustre of those stones (emeralds), he immediately becomes blind.”—_Ahmed ben Abdalaziz_ Treatise on Jewels.
Footnote 227:
p. 175.—_After the day-beam’s withering fire._
“At Gombaroon and the Isle of Ormus, it is sometimes so hot that the people are obliged to lie all day in the water.”—_Marco Polo._
Footnote 228:
p. 176.—_Of_ ARARAT’S _tremendous peak._
This mountain is generally supposed to be inaccessible. _Struy_ says, “I can well assure the reader that their opinion is not true, who suppose this mount to be inaccessible.” He adds, that “the lower part of the mountain is cloudy, misty, and dark; the middlemost part very cold, and like clouds of snow; but the upper regions perfectly calm.”—It was on this mountain that the ark was supposed to have rested after the Deluge, and part of it, they say, exists there still, which Struy thus gravely accounts for:—“Whereas none can remember that the air on the top of the hill did ever change or was subject either to wind or rain, which is presumed to be the reason that the Ark has endured so long without being rotten.”—See _Carreri_’s Travels, where the Doctor laughs at this whole account of Mount Ararat.
Footnote 229:
p. 177.—_The bridegroom, with his locks of light._
In one of the books of the Shâh Nâmeh, when Zal (a celebrated hero of Persia, remarkable for his white hair) comes to the terrace of his mistress Rodahver at night, she lets down her long tresses to assist him in his ascent;—he, however, manages it in a less romantic way, by fixing his crook in a projecting beam.—See _Champion’s Ferdosi_.
Footnote 230:
p. 177.—_The rock-goats of_ ARABIA _clamber._
“On the lofty hills of Arabia Petræa are rock-goats.”—_Niebuhr._
Footnote 231:
p. 178.—_Some ditty to her soft Kanoon._
“Canun, espèce de psaltérion, avec des cordes de boyaux; les dames en touchent dans le sérail, avec des écailles armées de pointes de cooc.”—_Toderini, translated by De Cournand._
Footnote 232:
p. 184.—_The Gheber belt that round him clung._
“They (the Ghebers) lay so much stress on their cushee or girdle, as not to dare to be an instant without it.”—_Grose_’s Voyage.—“Le jeune homme nia d’abord la chose; mais, ayant été dépouillé de sa robe, et la large ceinture qu’il portoit comme Ghebr,” &c. &c.—_D’Herbelot_, art. Agduani. “Pour se distinguer des Idolâtres de l’Inde, les Guèbres se ceignent tous d’un cordon de laine, ou de poil de chameau.”—_Encyclopédie Françoise._
D’Herbelot says this belt was generally of leather.
Footnote 233:
p. 184.—_Among the living lights of heaven._
“They suppose the Throne of the Almighty is seated in the sun, and hence their worship of that luminary.”—_Hanway._ “As to fire, the Ghebers place the spring-head of it in that globe of fire the Sun, by them called Mythras, or Mihir, to which they pay the highest reverence, in gratitude for the manifold benefits flowing from its ministerial omniscience. But they are so far from confounding the subordination of the Servant with the majesty of its Creator, that they not only attribute no sort of sense or reasoning to the sun or fire, in any of its operations, but consider it as a purely passive blind instrument, directed and governed by the immediate impression on it of the will of God: but they do not even give that luminary, all-glorious as it is, more than the second rank amongst his works, reserving the first for that stupendous production of divine power, the mind of man.”—_Grose._ The false charges brought against the religion of these people by their Mussulman tyrants is but one proof among many of the truth of this writer’s remark, that “calumny is often added to oppression, if but for the sake of justifying it.”
Footnote 234:
p. 188.—_And fiery darts, at intervals._
“The Mameluks that were in the other boat, when it was dark, used to shoot up a sort of fiery arrows into the air, which in some measure resembled lightning or falling stars.”—_Baumgarten._
Footnote 235:
p. 190.—_Which grows over the tomb of the musician, Tan-Sein._—“Within the inclosure which surrounds this monument (at Gualior) is a small tomb to the memory of Tan-Sein, a musician of incomparable skill, who flourished at the court of Akbar. The tomb is overshadowed by a tree, concerning which a superstitious notion prevails, that the chewing of its leaves will give an extraordinary melody to the voice.”—_Narrative of a Journey from Agra to Ouzein, by W. Hunter, Esq._
Footnote 236:
p. 190.—_The awful signal of the bamboo staff._—“It is usual to place a small white triangular flag, fixed to a bamboo staff of ten or twelve feet long, at the place where a tiger has destroyed a man. It is common for the passengers also to throw each a stone or brick near the spot, so that in the course of a little time a pile equal to a good waggon-load is collected. The sight of these flags and piles of stones imparts a certain melancholy, not perhaps altogether void of apprehension.”—_Oriental Field Sports_, vol. ii.
Footnote 237:
p. 190.—_Ornamented with the most beautiful porcelain._—“The Ficus Indica is called the Pagod Tree and Tree of Councils; the first, from the idols placed under its shade; the second, because meetings were held under its cool branches. In some places it is believed to be the haunt of spectres, as the ancient spreading oaks of Wales have been of fairies; in others are erected beneath the shade pillars of stone, or posts, elegantly carved, and ornamented with the most beautiful porcelain to supply the use of mirrors.”—_Pennant._
Footnote 238:
p. 192.—_And o’er the Green Sea palely shines._
The Persian Gulf—“To dive for pearls in the Green Sea, or Persian Gulf.”—_Sir W. Jones._
Footnote 239:
p. 192.—_Revealing_ BAHREIN’S _groves of palm, And lighting_ KISHMA’S _amber vines._
Islands in the Gulf.
Footnote 240:
p. 192.—_Blow round_ SELAMA’S _sainted cape._
Or Selemeh, the genuine name of the headland at the entrance of the Gulf, commonly called Cape Musseldom. “The Indians, when they pass the promontory, throw cocoa-nuts, fruits, or flowers, into the sea, to secure a propitious voyage.”—_Morier._
Footnote 241:
p. 193.—_The nightingale now bends her flight._
“The nightingale sings from the pomegranate groves in the day-time, and from the loftiest trees at night.”—_Russel_’s Aleppo.
Footnote 242:
p. 193.—_The best and brightest scimitar._
In speaking of the climate of Shiraz, Francklin says, “The dew is of such a pure nature, that if the brightest scimitar should be exposed to it all night, it would not receive the least rust.”
Footnote 243:
p. 194.—_Who, on_ CADESSIA’S _bloody plains._
The place where the Persians were finally defeated by the Arabs, and their ancient monarchy destroyed.
Footnote 244:
p. 194.—_Beyond the Caspian’s Iron Gates._
Derbend.—“Les Turcs appellent cette ville Demir Capi, Porte de Fer; ce sont les Caspiæ Portæ des anciens.”—_D’Herbelot._
Footnote 245:
p. 195.—_They burst, like Zeilan’s giant palm._
The Talpot or Talipot-tree. “This beautiful palm-tree, which grows in the heart of the forests, may be classed among the loftiest trees, and becomes still higher when on the point of bursting forth from its leafy summit. The sheath which then envelopes the flower is very large, and, when it bursts, makes an explosion like the report of a cannon.”—_Thunberg._
Footnote 246:
p. 196.—_Before whose sabre’s dazzling light._
“When the bright cimitars make the eyes of our heroes wink.”—_The Moallakat, Poem of Amru._
Footnote 247:
p. 198.—_Sprung from those old, enchanted kings._
Tahmuras, and other ancient kings of Persia; whose adventures in Fairy-land among the Peris and Dives may be found in Richardson’s curious Dissertation. The griffin Simoorgh, they say, took some feathers from her breast for Tahmuras, with which he adorned his helmet, and transmitted them afterwards to his descendants.
Footnote 248:
p. 199.—_Of sainted cedars on its banks._
This rivulet, says Dandini, is called the Holy river from the “cedar-saints” among which it rises.
In the _Lettres Edifiantes_, there is a different cause assigned for its name of Holy. “In these are deep caverns, which formerly served as so many cells for a great number of recluses, who had chosen these retreats as the only witnesses upon earth of the severity of their penance. The tears of these pious penitents gave the river of which we have just treated the name of the Holy River.”—See _Châteaubriand_’s Beauties of Christianity.
Footnote 249:
p. 200.—_Of_ OMAN _beetling awfully._
This mountain is my own creation, as the “stupendous chain,” of which I suppose it a link, does not extend quite so far as the shores of the Persian Gulf. “This long and lofty range of mountains formerly divided Media from Assyria, and now forms the boundary of the Persian and Turkish empires. It runs parallel with the river Tigris and Persian Gulf, and almost disappearing in the vicinity of Gomberoon (Harmozia), seems once more to rise in the southern districts of Kerman, and following an easterly course through the centre of Meckraun and Balouchistan, is entirely lost in the deserts of Sinde.”—_Kinneir_’s Persian Empire.
Footnote 250:
p. 201.—_That oft the sleeping albatross._
These birds sleep in the air. They are most common about the Cape of Good Hope.
Footnote 251:
p 201.—_Beneath the Gheber’s lonely cliff._
There is an extraordinary hill in this neighbourhood, called Kohé Gubr, or the Guebre’s mountain. It rises in the form of a lofty cupola, and on the summit of it, they say, are the remains of an Atush Kudu, or Fire-Temple. It is superstitiously held to be the residence of Deeves or Sprites, and many marvellous stories are recounted of the injury and witchcraft suffered by those who essayed in former days to ascend or explore it.—_Pottinger_’s Beloochistan.
Footnote 252:
p. 202.—_Of that vast mountain stood on fire._
The Ghebers generally built their temples over subterraneous fires.
Footnote 253:
p. 202.—_Still did the mighty flame burn on._
“At the city of Yezd, in Persia, which is distinguished by the appellation of the Darûb Abadut, or Seat of Religion, the Guebres are permitted to have an Atush Kudu, or Fire-Temple, (which, they assert, has had the sacred fire in it since the days of Zoroaster,) in their own compartment of the city; but for this indulgence they are indebted to the avarice, not the tolerance, of the Persian government, which taxes them at twenty-five rupees each man.”—_Pottinger_’s Beloochistan.
Footnote 254:
p. 204.—_The blood of_ ZAL _and_ RUSTAM _rolls._
Ancient heroes of Persia. “Among the Guebres there are some who boast their descent from Rustam.”—_Stephen_’s Persia.
Footnote 255:
p. 204.—_Across the dark sea-robber’s way._
See Russel’s account of the panther’s attacking travellers in the night on the sea-shore about the roots of Lebanon.
Footnote 256:
p. 206.—_The wandering Spirits of their Dead._
“Among other ceremonies the Magi used to place upon the tops of high towers various kinds of rich viands, upon which it was supposed the Peris and the spirits of their departed heroes regaled themselves.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 257:
p. 206.—_Nor charmed leaf of pure pomegranate._
In the ceremonies of the Ghebers round their Fire, as described by Lord, “the Daroo,” he says, “giveth them water to drink, and a pomegranate leaf to chew in the mouth, to cleanse them from inward uncleanness.”
Footnote 258:
p. 206.—_Nor symbol of their worshipp’d planet._
“Early in the morning, they (the Parsees or Ghebers at Oulam) go in crowds to pay their devotions to the Sun, to whom upon all the altars there are spheres consecrated, made by magic, resembling the circles of the sun, and when the sun rises, these orbs seem to be inflamed, and to turn round with a great noise. They have every one a censer in their hands, and offer incense to the sun.”—_Rabbi Benjamin._
Footnote 259:
p. 206.—_They swore the latest, holiest deed._
“Nul d’entre eux oseroit se parjurer, quand il a pris à témoin cet élément terrible et vengeur.”—_Encyclopédie Françoise._
Footnote 260:
p. 207.—_The Persian lily shines and towers._
“A vivid verdure succeeds the autumnal rains, and the ploughed fields are covered with the Persian lily, of a resplendent yellow colour.”—_Russel_’s Aleppo.
Footnote 261:
p. 210.—_When toss’d at midnight furiously._
“It is observed, with respect to the Sea of Herkend, that when it is tossed by tempestuous winds it sparkles like fire.”—_Travels of Two Mohammedans._
Footnote 262:
p. 210.—_Up, daughter, up—the_ KERNA’S _breath._
A kind of trumpet;—it “was that used by Tamerlane, the sound of which is described as uncommonly dreadful, and so loud as to be heard at the distance of several miles.”—_Richardson._
Footnote 263:
p. 212.—_Thou wor’st on_ OHOD’S _field of death._
“Mohammed had two helmets, an interior and exterior one; the latter of which, called Al Mawashah, the fillet, wreath, or wreathed garland, he wore at the battle of Ohod.”—_Universal History._
Footnote 264:
p. 214.—_But turn to ashes on the lips._
They say that there are apple-trees upon the sides of this sea, which bear very lovely fruit, but within are all full of ashes.—_Thevenot._ The same is asserted of the oranges there; vide _Witman_’s Travels in Asiatic Turkey.
“The Asphalt Lake, known by the name of the Dead Sea, is very remarkable on account of the considerable proportion of salt which it contains. In this respect it surpasses every other known water on the surface of the earth. This great proportion of bitter tasted salts is the reason why neither animal nor plant can live in this water.”—_Klaproth_’s Chemical Analysis of the Water of the Dead Sea, Annals of Philosophy, January, 1813. _Hasselquist_, however, doubts the truth of this last assertion, as there are shell-fish to be found in the lake.
Lord Byron has a similar allusion to the fruits of the Dead Sea, in that wonderful display of genius, his third Canto of Childe Harold,—magnificent beyond any thing, perhaps, that even _he_ has ever written.
Footnote 265:
p. 214.—_While lakes, that shone in mockery nigh._
“The Suhrab, or Water of the Desert, is said to be caused by the rarefaction of the atmosphere from extreme heat; and, which augments the delusion, it is most frequent in hollows, where water might be expected to lodge. I have seen bushes and trees reflected in it with as much accuracy as though it had been the face of a clear and still lake.”—_Pottinger._
“As to the unbelievers, their works are like a vapour in a plain which the thirsty traveller thinketh to be water, until when he cometh thereto he findeth it to be nothing.”—_Koran_, chap. 24.
Footnote 266:
p. 215.—_The Bid-musk had just passed over._—“A wind which prevails in February, called Bidmusk, from a small and odoriferous flower of that name.”—“The wind which blows these flowers commonly lasts till the end of the month.”—_Le Bruyn._
Footnote 267:
p. 215.—_The sea-gipsies, who live for ever on the water._—“The Biajús are of two races: the one is settled on Borneo, and are a rude but warlike and industrious nation, who reckon themselves the original possessors of the island of Borneo. The other is a species of sea-gipsies or itinerant fishermen, who live in small covered boats, and enjoy a perpetual summer on the eastern ocean, shifting to leeward from island to island, with the variations of the monsoon. In some of their customs this singular race resemble the natives of the Maldivia islands. The Maldivians annually launch a small bark, loaded with perfumes, gums, flowers, and odoriferous wood, and turn it adrift at the mercy of winds and waves, as an offering to the _Spirit of the Winds_; and sometimes similar offerings are made to the spirit whom they term the _King of the Sea_. In like manner the Biajús perform their offering to the God of Evil, launching a small bark, loaded with all the sins and misfortunes of the nation, which are imagined to fall on the unhappy crew that may be so unlucky as first to meet with it.”—_Dr. Leyden_ on the Languages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese Nations.
Footnote 268:
p. 215.—_The violet sherbets._—“The sweet-scented violet is one of the plants most esteemed, particularly for its great use in Sorbet, which they make of violet sugar.”—_Hasselquist._
“The sherbet they most esteem, and which is drunk by the Grand Signor himself, is made of violets and sugar.”—_Tavernier._
Footnote 269: