HKB
NOTE 6. The paragraph thus commencing, and the verses comprised in it, are translated from the Calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights.
NOTE 7. It is a common custom for a Muslim, on a military expedition, or during a long journey, especially in the desert, to carry his grave-linen with him; for he is extremely careful that he may be buried according to the law.[120] It seems to be implied in our tale, that the merchant hoped that the Jinnee, or some passing traveller, would wash, shroud, and bury him.
NOTE 8. It is thus that the Arab women generally do on the occasion of a funeral.
NOTE 9.--On the title of Sheykh. "Sheykh" is an appellation which literally signifies "an elder," or "an aged person," and in this sense it is here used; but it is also commonly employed as synonymous with our appellation of "Mister;" and particularly applied to a learned man, or a reputed saint. In every case, it is a title of respect, and never given to any but a Muslim.
NOTE 10. "Jánn" is here used as synonymous with "Jinn."
NOTE 11. A cousin (the daughter of a paternal uncle) is often chosen as a wife, on account of the tie of blood, which is likely to attach her more strongly to her husband; or on account of an affection conceived in early years. The various customs relating to marriage, I shall describe on a future occasion.
NOTE 12. A bride is called young, by the Arabs, when she is about twelve years of age. In the Calcutta edition of the first two hundred nights, the wife in this tale is said to have been of this age when she was first married.
NOTE 13.--On Slaves. A slave, among Muslims, is either a person taken captive in war, or carried off by force, and being at the time of capture an infidel; or the offspring of a female slave by another slave, or by any man who is not her owner, or by her owner, if he does not acknowledge himself to be the father: but the offspring of a male slave by a free woman is free. A person who embraces the Mohammadan faith after having been made a slave, does not by this act become free, unless he flees from a foreign infidel master to a Muslim country, and there becomes a Mohammadan. A person cannot have as a slave one whom he acknowledges to be within the prohibited degrees of marriage.[121]--The slaves of the Arabs are mostly from Abyssinia and the Negro countries: a few, mostly in the houses of wealthy individuals, are from Georgia and Circassia.