57
ing with the vagabond boys, behold, a Maugrabin[1] dervish came up and stopping to look at the lads, singled out Alaeddin from his comrades and fell to gazing upon him and straitly considering his favour. Now this dervish was from the land of Hither Barbary[2] and he was an enchanter who would cast mountain upon mountain with his sorcery and was skilled to boot in physiognomy.[3] When he had well considered
- ↑ I prefer this old English form of the Arabic word Meghrebiy (a native of El Meghreb or North-Western Africa) to “Moor,” as the latter conveys a false impression to the modern reader, who would naturally suppose him to be a native of Morocco, whereas the enchanter came, as will presently appear, from biladu ’l gherbi ’l jewwaniy, otherwise Ifrikiyeh, i.e. “the land of the Inner West” or Africa proper, comprising Tunis, Tripoli and part of Algeria.
- ↑ Min biladi ’l gherbi ’l jewwaniy. The Muslim provinces of North-Western Africa, extending from the north-western boundary of Egypt to Cape Nun on the Mogador Coast, were known under the general name of El Meghreb (modern Barbary) and were divided into three parts, to wit (1) El Meghreb el Jewwaniy, Inner, i.e. Hither or Nearer (to Egypt) Barbary or Ifrikiyeh, comprising Tripoli, Tunis and Constantine (part of Algeria), (2) El Meghreb el Aouset, Central Barbary. comprising the rest of Algeria, and (3) El Meghreb el Acszaa, Farther or Outer Barbary, comprising the modern empire of Morocco.
- ↑ El hieh. Burton translates, “astrology,” and astrology (or astronomy) is the classical meaning of the word; but the common meaning in modern Arabic is “the science of physiognomy,” cf. the Nights passim. See especially ante, p. 42.
