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[FN#109] I Arab. "Dastur" (from Persian) = leave, permission. The

word has two meanings (see Burckhardt, Arab. Prov. No. 609) and

is much used, ea. before walking up stairs or entering a room

where strange women might be met. So "Tarik" = Clear the way

(Pilgrimage, iii., 319). The old Persian occupation of Egypt, not

to speak of the Persian speaking Circassians and other rulers has

left many such traces in popular language. One of them is that

horror of travelers-"Bakhshish" pron. bakh-sheesh and shortened

to shish from the Pers. "bakhshish." Our "Christmas box" has been

most unnecessarily derived from the same, despite our reading:-

Gladly the boy, with Christmas box in hand.

And, as will be seen, Persians have bequeathed to the outer world

worse things than bad language, e.g. heresy and sodomy.

[FN#110] He speaks of his wife but euphemistically in the

masculine.

[FN#111] A popular saying throughout Al-Islam.