This may sound exaggerated to English ears, but a petty Indian Prince, such as the Gáikwár, or Rajah of Baroda, would be preceded in state processions by several led horses all whose housings and saddles were gold studded with diamonds. The sight made one’s mouth water.
_i.e._ the ’Arab al-’Arbá; for which see vols. i. 112; v. 101.
Arab. “Al-Kandíl al-’ajíb:” here its magical virtues are specified and remove many apparent improbabilities from the tale.
This was the highest of honours. At Abyssinian Harar even the Grandees were compelled to dismount at the door of the royal “compound.” See my “First Footsteps in East Africa,” p. 296.
“The right hand” seems to me a European touch in Galland’s translation, _leur chef mit Aladdin à sa droite_. Amongst Moslems the great man sits in the sinistral corner of the Divan as seen from the door, so the place of honour is to his left.
Arab. “Músiká,” classically “Musikí” = Μουσικὴ: the Pers. form is “Músikár”; and the Arab. equivalent is Al-Lahn. In the H. V. the King “made a signal and straightway drums (_dhol_) and trumpets (_trafír_) and all manner wedding instruments struck up on every side.”
Arab. “Marmar Sumáki” = porphyry of which ancient Egypt supplied the finest specimens. I found a vein of it in the Anti-Libanus. Strange to say, the quarries which produced the far-famed giallo antico, verd’ antico (serpentine limestone) and rosso antico (mostly a porphyry) worked by the old Nilotes, are now unknown to us.
_i.e._ velvets with gold embroidery: see vol. viii. 201.
The Arabic says, “There was a kiosque with four-and-twenty alcoves (Líwán, for which see vols. iv. 71; vi. 347) all builded of emerald, etc., and one remained with the kiosque (kushk) unfinished.” I adopt Galland’s reading _salon à vingt-quatre croisées_ which are mentioned in the Arab. text towards the end of the tale, and thus avoid the confusion between kiosque and window. In the H. V. there is a domed belvedere (bárah-dari-i-gumbaz-dár), four-sided, with six doors on each front (_i.e._ twenty-four), and all studded with diamonds, etc.
In Persia this is called “Pá-andáz,” and must be prepared for the Shah when he deigns to visit a subject. It is always of costly stuffs, and becomes the perquisite of the royal attendants.