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encompass[1] its verdure, as it were chrysolites set in filagrees of silver.[2] And what is there to compare with the Observatory[3] and its beauties, whereof saith the beholder, whenas he draweth near and looketh, “Verily this comprehendeth all manner goodliness!” And if thou speak of the Night of the Waxing [of the Nile],[4] give the bow, take it[5] and distribute the water to its channels; and if thou sawest the Garden[6] in the evenings and the shadow sloping over it, thou wouldst behold a marvel and wouldst be cheered by the like thereof, and wert thou by the river-side of Cairo,[7] when the sun is going down and the river dons hauberk and coat of mail[8] to its vestments, its gentle breeze would quicken thee and its bland and copious shade.’”
Again, it cannot be denied that, either out of a mistaken deference to the literary tastes and prejudices of his age or from a want of sufficient acquaintance with Oriental
- ↑ As the white encompasses the black of the eye.
- ↑ I omit a rather long piece of verse about a day spent on the Birket el Hebesh, Galland having taken no notice of it.
- ↑ Er Resd.
- ↑ i.e. the night on which the Nile rises to the statute-height of sixteen cubits.
- ↑ This appears to refer to the ceremony of cutting the dam of the canal.
- ↑ i.e. Er Rauzeh, the well-known island so called.
- ↑ Galland has here mistaken the meaning of sahil Misr, the river-side of Cairo (to which town the whole description is confined) and supposing it to mean the sea-coast of Egypt, has introduced a digression about Damietta, Rosetta and other sea-side towns.
- ↑ This metaphor, based upon the appearance produced by the level rays of the setting sun, is a favourite one with Arab writers.
