An Account Of Timbuctoo And Housa Territories In The Interior Of Africa Part 23

To repeat Aoud [Arabic:]

Fish Hout [Arabic:]

A gun Mokhalla [Arabic:]

A foolish woman Mokeela [Arabic:]

A frying pan Makeela [Arabic:]

A lion Seban [Arabic:]

Morning Seban [Arabic:]

Seventh Seban [Arabic:]

361 Hatred Ha.s.sed [Arabic:]

Harvest Ha.s.sed [Arabic:]

Learning (Alem, or El Alem) [Arabic:]

A flag El Alem [Arabic:]

Granulated paste Kuscasoe [Arabic:]

The dish it is made in Kuscas [Arabic:]

Heart Kul'b [Arabic:]

Dog Kil'b [Arabic:]

Mould Kal'b [Arabic:]

Captain Rice [Arabic:]

Feathers Rish [Arabic:]

Mud G'ris [Arabic:]

Smell s.h.i.+m [Arabic:]

Poison Sim[206] [Arabic:]

362 Absent G'raib [Arabic:]

b.u.t.ter-milk Raib [Arabic:]

White Bead [Arabic:]

A black El Abd [Arabic:]

Eggs Baid [Arabic:]

Afar off Baid [Arabic:]

A pig h.e.l.loof [Arabic:]

An oath h.e.l.lef [Arabic:]

Feed for horses Alf [Arabic:]

A thousand Elf [Arabic:]

[Footnote 206: The African Jews find it very difficult in speaking, to distinguish between _s.h.i.+m_ and _sim_, for they cannot p.r.o.nounce the _sh_, ? but sound it like _s_ ? ; the very few who have studied the art of reading the language, have, however, conquered this difficulty.]

It is difficult for any one who has not accurately studied the Arabic language, to imagine the many errors which an European commits in speaking it, when self taught, or when taught in Europe.

This deficiency originates in the inaccuracy of the application of the guttural and synonymous letters.

The ain ? and the ? grain cannot be 363 accurately p.r.o.nounced by Europeans, who have not studied the language grammatically when young. The aspirated _h_, and the hard _s_, in the word for _morning_ (sebah), are so much like their synonymes, that few Europeans can discern the difference; the one is consequently often mistaken for the other; and I have known a beautiful sentence absolutely perverted through an inaccuracy of this kind. In the words rendered _Hatred_ and _Harvest_, the two synonymes of ? and ? or _s_ hard and _s_ soft, are indiscriminately used by Europeans in their Arabic _conversations_, a circ.u.mstance sufficient to do away the force and meaning of many a sentence.

The poetry as well as prose of the Arabians is well known, and has been so often discussed by learned men, that it would be irrelevant here to expatiate on the subject; but as the following description of the n.o.blest pa.s.sion of the human breast cannot but be interesting to the generality of readers, and, without any exception, to the fair s.e.x, I will transcribe it.

"Love [Arabic:] beginneth in contemplation, pa.s.seth to meditation; hence proceeds desire; then the spark bursts forth into a flame, the head swims, the body wastes, and the soul turns giddy. If we look on the bright side of love, we must acknowledge that it has at least one advantage; it annihilates pride and immoderate self-love; 364 true love, whose aim is the happiness and equality of the beloved object, being incompatible with those feelings.

"l.u.s.t is so different from true love [arabic], and so far from a perfection, that it is always a species of punishment sent by G.o.d, because man has abandoned the path of his pure love."

In their epistolary writing, the Arabs have generally a regular and particular style, beginning and ending all their letters with the name of G.o.d, symbolically, because G.o.d is the beginning and end of all things. The following short specimen will ill.u.s.trate this:

Translation of a letter written in the Korannick Arabic by Seedy Soliman ben Muhammed ben Ismael, Sultan of Marocco, to his Bashaw of Suse, &c. &c.

"Praise be to the only G.o.d! for there is neither power, nor strength, without the great and eternal G.o.d."

L.S.

Containing the Emperor's name and t.i.tles, as Soliman ben Muhamed ben Abdallah, &c, &c.

"Our servant, Alkaid Abdelmelk ben Behie Mulud, G.o.d a.s.sist, and peace be with thee, and the mercy and grace of G.o.d be upon thee!"

"We command thee forthwith to procure and send to our exalted presence every Englishman that has been wrecked on the coast of Wedinoon, and to forward them hither without delay, and diligently 365 to succour and attend to them, and may the eye of G.o.d be upon thee!" [207]

[Footnote 207: When they write to any other but Muhamedans, they never salute them with the words, "Peace be with thee,"

but subst.i.tute--"Peace be to those who follow the path of the true G.o.d," _Salem ala min itaba el Uda_.]

"26th of the (lunar), month Saffer, year of the Hejra 1221. (May, 1806.)"

The accuracy of punctuation in the Arabic language is a matter that ought to be strictly attended to.

The foregoing observations will serve to prove the insufficiency of a knowledge of this language, as professed or studied in Great Britain when unaccompanied with a practical knowledge. These observations may apply equally to the Persian language.[208]

[Footnote 208: "One of the objects I had in view in coming to Europe, was to instruct young Englishmen in the Persian language. I however met with so little encouragement from persons in authority, that I entirely relinquished the plan. I instructed, however, (as I could not refuse the recommendations that were brought to me,) an amiable young man, Mr. S------n, and thanks be to G.o.d, my efforts were crowned with success! and that he, having escaped the instructions of _self-taught_ masters, has acquired such a knowledge of the principles of that language, and so correct an idea of its idiom and p.r.o.nunciation, that I have no doubt, after a few years'

residence in India, he will attain to such a degree of excellence, as has not yet been acquired by any other Englishman." Vide Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan, vol. i. p.