《一千零一夜》｜理查·法蘭西斯·波頓〈前言〉之三

九月底至十月中的期間，我返回台灣探望親友，延緩了作業進度，也因此有了閒暇時間閱讀博爾赫斯先生的文章：〈《一千零一夜》的譯者〉（收錄於《永恆史》）；原本計劃於此篇開場更進一步地討論翻譯問題，如今亦自覺不必多此一舉（波頓先生已說明得足夠詳盡）。

因此，保留下來的篇幅，我想引用〈《一千零一夜》的譯者〉中，博爾赫斯先生對波頓先生褒貶分明的評論：

若說誰最不該被 Hudibras 反覆譏諷為那些『能用多種語言說出絕對無意義之話』的博士：Burton 是個總有話可說的人，而他的七十二卷著作至今仍在替他說著那些話。
（17世紀英國詩人 Samuel Butler 所著諷刺詩《Hudibras》）

讓我冒險說出這樣的誇張之詞：讀完 Burton 譯本的《一千零一夜》，不比讀一本由辛巴達水手「從阿拉伯語逐字翻譯並加註評論」的版本少一分不可思議。

那些乏善可陳的肉體之愛的變奏，並未耗盡他註解的全部熱情。這（指 Burton 的註解）是百科全書式的、章法雜亂的，而它的趣味性與其必要性成反比。

對手「散文化」的翻譯方式令他氣憤，於是他選擇以英文詩體來翻譯——這本就是一種注定失敗的做法，因為這違背了他自己所標榜的絕對直譯原則。此外，耳朵所受的傷害幾乎不亞於邏輯的侮辱。也許以下這首四行詩已是他最成功的作品之一：

A night whose stars refused to run their course,
A night of those which never seem outworn:
Like Resurrection-day, of longsome length
To him that watched and waited for the morn.

而以下也很可能還不是最糟的：

A sun on wand in knoll of sand she showed,
Clad in her cramoisy-hued chemisette:
Of her lips' honey-dew she gave me drink
And with her rosy cheeks quencht fire she set.

木谷人右

二〇二五年九月十八日，北角

正文

佩恩先生的計畫裡並未包含註解。但我的版本有：我幾乎無法想像《天方夜譚》倘若少了評註，西方人們能從中讀到什麼收穫。我的註解只避開一個主題，那便是歐洲民間傳說與滑稽短篇（fabliaux）的關聯，無論它多麼風趣，都會使這本專注於人類學的書篇幅過載。我一生的際遇，這麼說並不算自負，我與阿拉伯人及其他穆斯林長期的交往，不僅使我熟悉他們的語言，也熟悉他們的思維方式，以及那種難以言喻的族群特質，都讓我比一般研究者擁有某些優勢，無論他研究得多麼深入。此外，這些卷冊也給了我長久以來所追尋的機會，去記錄那些攸關全人類，卻為「上流社會」所避諱的風俗與習慣。歷史學家格羅特（Grote）與小說家薩克雷（Thackeray）都曾感嘆，同胞們的矯飾作態迫使他們在須公開宣揚之處反而得保持沉默；他們甚至無法享有菲爾丁（Fielding）和史摩萊特（Smollett）那樣有限度的自由。因此，約二十年前，我竭盡所能協助已故的詹姆士・杭特博士（Dr. James Hunt）創立了人類學會，我亦首先擔任會長之席（參見《Anthropologia》，倫敦，Balliere，第一卷，第一期，1873 年，第 2–4 頁）。我的動機，是要為旅行者提供一個機構，把他們的觀察從手稿那無人問津的黑暗中拯救出來，並發行那些關於社會與性事的奇特資訊——這些內容在餐桌閒談的通俗讀物（Nipptisch，德語）中格格不入，實際上也最好遠離大眾視野。然而，我們才剛起步，那所謂「體面」——裝滿污穢的粉飾墳墓——便起身反抗我們（見註解）。「禮法」以她那大言不慚的嗓音貶低我們，怯懦的同袍便離經背道。但這份刊物已被盼望已久，至今仍是如此。當今在非洲內陸、美洲與澳洲的諸多「野蠻部族」，那些天性尚未被理性所壓過的民族，皆有一種他們稱為「成男禮」（making men）的儀式。一旦男孩顯示出青春期的徵兆，他與同齡人便被巫醫與祭司帶走；在祭司的教導下，他們於「叢林」中度過數月，忍受艱辛與折磨，直至將社會與性關係的「理論與實踐」牢記於心。對於文明人而言，知識樹上的果實必須以最苦痛的經歷來換取，而無知所導致的後果將無比殘酷。因此，我終於找到一個機會，能在註解裡指出許多讀者可能忽略的細節，我深信它們將築成一座東方知識的寶庫，尤其是其奧秘的一面。凡將雷恩（Lane，《阿拉伯社會》等，前文所述）及我的註釋一併研讀的人，將對伊斯蘭東方的了解不亞於、甚至超過許多在東方土地上度過半生的歐洲人。為便於查閱，每卷書皆有人類學註解索引的附錄。

(引用《聖經》的典故——「你們這假冒為善的文士和法利賽人有禍了；因為你們好像粉飾的墳墓，外面好看，裏面卻裝滿了死人的骨頭，和一切的污穢。」
——馬太福音 23:27

「“仇敵起來攻擊你，耶和華必使他們在你面前被你殺敗；他們從一條路來攻擊你，必從七條路逃跑。」
——申命記28:7」）

敬請讀者耐心熬過以下的技術細節。史坦豪瑟（Steinhaeuser）與我始終依據的都是布拉克（Bul.）第一版，在開羅港於回曆 1251 年，等同西曆 1835 年印行的版本。可當我準備將手稿付印時，我發現文本並不完整，許多故事僅以摘要形式呈現，還有不少被殘酷刪節，缺失開頭或結尾。和大多數東方抄寫員一樣，那位編輯忍不住做了些「改良」，結果只讓書變得貶值；他唯一辯解的標題，是第二版布拉克本（四卷，回曆 1279 = 西曆 1863 年），儘管它標榜為「經馬哈穆德・科奇・阿勒・阿德維謝赫修訂與校正」，實為更加糟糕； 1881 年的開羅版（四卷，回曆 1297 = 西曆 1881 年）情況也一樣。加爾各答（Calcutta）本（簡稱 “Calc.”），由編輯艾哈邁德・艾勒・希爾瓦尼（Ahmed al-Shirwani）於西元 1814 年撰寫十行波斯文序言，但在第一二百夜被截斷，為 1839 至 1842 年間出版的威廉・海伊・麥克納頓爵士（Sir William Hay Macnaghten）版（四卷，大四開）騰出空間。這一版本（簡稱 “Mac.”），迄今最少訛誤且最完整，因此被我視為主要依據，並偶爾參考布雷斯勞本（簡稱 “Bres.”），該版本由馬克西米連・哈比希特（Dr. Maximilian Habicht ）於 1825–43 年以一份編纂極為粗劣、慘不忍睹的埃及手稿編成。貝魯特本《Alif-Leila we Leila》（四卷，大八開，1881–83 年，貝魯特出版）是《天方夜譚》令人沮喪的版本，由哈里勒・薩爾基斯（Khalil Sarkis）全盤抄自布拉克版，且帶有其皈依基督教後的痕跡；開篇竟然省略了「奉真主之名」（Bismillah），下文經極端嚴苛的刪改，而結局僅剩倦怠與失望。我完全沒有採用這份傳教士式的產物。

（A.H.（هِجْرِي，Hijri, Anno Hegirae，回曆、伊斯蘭曆），從穆罕默德（Prophet Muhammad）自麥加遷徙（Hijra，هِجْرَة）到麥地那的 622 年開始計算。）

（《Alif-Leila we Leila》，阿拉伯語 ألف ليلة وليلة (Alf Layla wa-Layla) ，即《一千零一夜》）

至於阿拉伯語詞彙的音譯，我刻意拒絕那種造作、複雜的系統，而且既難看又不得體，卻為當代的東方學專家所推崇。我亦無法苟同他們的主要目標，即企圖讓羅馬字母能夠取代一切其他文字。那些學習語言的人——且的確不少——靠聽覺，也靠視覺，他們深知專門的字母系統自有優勢，例如用以區分敘利亞文與阿拉伯文、古吉拉特文與馬拉地文。此外，這種令人著迷的羅馬字母拼寫，也許在純粹的學術或文學著作中自有用途；但若放在一部目的在於娛樂而非說教的小說中便顯得格格不入。再者，這些設計既會使入門者困惑，也無法啟發博學者。讀者若是懂阿拉伯文，那麼希臘字母、斜體、「大寫」、附加符號與種種排版上的怪事，大體上或少數例外，都是多餘的；若是他不懂阿拉伯文，那麼這些權宜之計對他更是毫無作用。誠然，我們偏好哪一套系統只是次要考量，只要我們大致堅持同一套即可，因為一致性方可避免造成讀者們的混淆。我特別迴避了雷恩先生所用的那一套（拼音系統），佩恩先生也因某些特殊理由而採用它，對此抗議亦屬徒勞：它所代表的是埃及，確切地說，是開羅那種落伍了的方言口音；而像 Kemer（即 ez-Zeman）這樣的詞，對一個貝都因人來說也根本無從發音。我也沒有追隨我那位博學的朋友巴傑牧師（Reverend G. P. Badger）的做法，把橫線（bars）與尖音符（acute accents）混用；前者（bars）令人不快地聯想到那些討厭的長短格（dactyls）與抑抑格（spondees），而後者（acute accents），依我淺見，本應用於長母音上，它在阿拉伯語中會時值加倍，或至少應當，將短母音的時值加倍。巴傑博士用尖音符（´）來標示重音或語音上的強調；但對那些發音最純正的人來說，這種 appoggio（義大利語，美聲唱法技巧）根本不存在；譬如歐洲人會念成 Mus-cat´（重音在後），阿拉伯村民則念成 Mas´-kat（重音在前），而沙漠的子民——「真主曾降臨於其舌頭之上」——則發音為 Mas-kat（無重音）。因此，我沿用了我在《朝覲記》（Pilgrimage）裡採用的簡單系統，只在阿拉伯詞首次出現時加上重音標記，那既是讀者的眼中釘，也是排印者的負擔，認為不必一再保留。基本上，我依循《Johnson on Richardson》一書，這本書為所有英國東方學專家所熟知，是他們研習早晚必備的古老而可靠的夥伴；但即便如此，我仍在一些地方有所偏離，理由將在結尾的論文中加以說明。正如詞語是思想的體現，而書寫又是詞語的體現；同樣，詞語的本質即為口頭之語，因此我們應當按照其發音來書寫。嚴格來說，e 音與 o 音（指義大利語的 o 音，而不是英語那種僅為我們特有、其他語言所無的 o 音）在阿拉伯語裡並不存在，除非在 Imálah（偏音，即元音傾斜變化）的情況下才會出現；因此它們被稱作「Yá al-Majhúl」與「Waw al-Majhúl」，意即「不明的 y（í）」與「不明的 u」。但在一切語言中，母音——作為語言子音骨架的血肉——都會受到子音的影響，特別是後置的子音，從而使發音或硬或軟；而某些字母則會伴隨著更深沉的音色，例如 ṣād (ص) 相較於 sīn (س)。除了聽覺有缺陷的人之外，不會有人像雷恩（Lane）那樣，主張「Maulid」（誕辰慶典）更應該讀作「Molid」。不過，我更傾向 Khokh（桃子）和 Jokh（呢絨），而非 Khukh 與 Jukh； Ohod（山名）而非 Uhud； Obayd（小奴隸）而非 Ubayd；以及 Hosayn（小堡壘，並非專名 Al-Husayn）而非 Husayn。至於那些短母音 e 的發音，例如將 Mamlúk（白奴）說成 Memlúk，將 Asha（晚餐）說成 Eshe，或將 Al-Yaman 說成 Yemen，我認為那是庸俗的埃及口音，對於崇尚貝都因純正發音的人來說，簡直難以忍受。不過，我仍然偏好將土耳其語 Chelebi（花花公子）寫作 Shelebi 而不是 Shalabi；將敘利亞的村名寫作 Zebdani 而非 Zabdani；還有，依照 Imálah 的音變，將「Fes 與 Miknes」寫作 Fes 與 Miknes，而不是 Fás 與 Miknás——正如我們習慣稱的 Fez 與 Mequinez。

（bars 指母音上標記長度的「橫線」（¯，macron），acute accents 指尖音符（´））

至於專有名詞與未翻譯的阿拉伯語詞彙，我拋棄了一切體系，而是依循常理。當一個詞已經被納入我們的語言時，我拒絕效仿那些純粹主義者，以那些駭人的革新分法來羞辱讀者。舉例來說，我會用 Aleppo、Cairo 與 Bassorah，而不是 Halab、Kahirah 與 Al-Basrah；當一個詞已經半歸化，例如 Alcoran 或 Koran、Bashaw 或 Pasha（法語寫作 Pacha）、以及 Mahomet 或 Mohammed（對應 Muhammad），我會因其更為人熟知而採取現代常見的拼法。但我看不出有任何好處要保留這些字，僅僅因為它們是前人遺下的錯誤。比如 Roc（應為 Rukh）、Khalif（這是對 Khalífah 的矯飾誤譯，更好的拼法是 Caliph）、以及 genie（實際上是 Jinn 的法語訛變），雖然都錯，但還不及 a Bedouin（對應 Badawi）那麼糟糕。同樣地，我也不會像雷恩先生那樣，硬把一些阿拉伯詞塞給讀者，例如 Khuff（靴子）、Mikra’ah（棕櫚木杖），以及許多其實有現成英文對應詞的用語。另一方面，我則會有限度地使用某些阿拉伯語的感嘆詞，如 Bismillah（奉真主之名！）和 Inshallah（如果真主願意！），因為它們有特殊語境，而且經由費瑟與莫里爾的作品，已使英文讀者相當熟悉。

至此，我告終這些瑣碎卻必要的細節，以幾句最後的話向讀者致意。當我再次強調，藉由我補充了雷恩註解的這些批註，學生將能輕鬆愉快地學到比一般東方學者更為廣博的穆斯林風俗、律法與宗教知識時，他便不會輕視我的工作；而若我的努力能激勵他攻讀《天方夜譚》的原文，他將會掌握的阿拉伯語遠超過尋常的阿拉伯人。這本書誠然是我留給同胞的遺澤，盼能在他們困厄之際有所助益。對印度，尤其是梵文文獻的過度專注，使他們偏離了那些（所謂的）「閃族研究」；然而這些研究對我們更為必要，因為它們教導我們如何成功地應對一個比任何異教徒都更強大的民族——穆斯林。英格蘭顯然總是遺忘，她如今正是全世界最大的穆斯林帝國。近年來，英格蘭在印度文官考試中系統性地忽視阿拉伯學，甚至積極地加以排斥，而在那裡，它的價值遠遠超過希臘文與拉丁文。因此，當英格蘭被迫突然接管穆斯林土地的統治權時——如昔日的阿富汗與當下的埃及——她的治理方式往往以一種令人震驚的方式失敗，甚至讓她那極少數的朋友都感到羞愧；而她對理應最受關注的東方民族所表現出的粗鄙無知，則使她同時遭到歐洲與東方世界的輕蔑。當 1883–84 年那些令人遺憾的討伐行動——最終在托卡爾、特布與塔馬西的慘烈戰事中收場——針對英勇的蘇丹黑人，以及蘇瓦金周邊奮戰的比沙林人時，他們奮鬥於自由與信仰的神聖事業，並試圖擺脫土耳其監工與埃及稅吏的壓迫；而在勇敢而令人哀悼的莫里斯少校戰死後，營中的英國官員竟無一人能說阿拉伯語。如今，穆斯林並不是應該被那些本該還在學校或大學的乳臭未乾年輕人所統治的，他們卻反倒佔據了信任與俸祿兼具的職位。凡欲成功處理與他們的關係者，必須首先誠實真誠，其次要熟悉並善意看待他們的風俗習慣，即便無法接受他們的律法與宗教。我們或許難以讓英格蘭重拾那些原初的美德、那曾造就她今日地位的風範與氣質；但無論如何，我與許多同道者，至少能提供她一種方式，去驅散她對那些不斷與之接觸的東方民族的無知。

最後，我不可不提，這些卷冊上的阿拉伯裝飾，乃由我摯友、開羅教育部的雅各布・阿爾廷帕夏設計，並由著名書藝家、開羅人穆罕默德・穆尼斯謝赫協助完成。我的名字「阿勒‧哈志‧阿布杜拉」（意為「朝覲者阿布杜拉」），是由一位英國書法家——令人哀悼的帕默教授（Professor Palmer）——題寫的，他英年早逝，就在蘇伊士近旁殞命。

理查・F・波頓

一八八五年八月十五日，流浪者俱樂部

原文

Explanatory notes did not enter into Mr. Payne's plan. They do with mine: I can hardly imagine The Nights being read to any profit by men of the West without commentary. My annotations avoid only one subject, parallels of European folk-lore and fabliaux which, however interesting, would overswell the bulk of a book whose speciality is anthropology. The accidents of my life, it may be said without undue presumption, my long dealings with Arabs and other Mahommedans, and my familiarity not only with their idiom but with their turn of thought, and with that racial individuality which baffles description, have given me certain advantages over the average student, however deeply he may have studied. These volumes, moreover, afford me a long-sought opportunity of noticing practices and customs which interest all mankind and which "Society" will not hear mentioned. Grote, the historian, and Thackeray, the novelist, both lamented that the bégueulerie of their countrymen condemned them to keep silence where publicity was required; and that they could not even claim the partial licence of a Fielding and a Smollett. Hence a score of years ago I lent my best help to the late Dr. James Hunt in founding the Anthropological Society, whose presidential chair I first occupied (pp. 2-4 Anthropologia; London, Balliere, vol. i., No. 1, 1873). My motive was to supply travellers with an organ which would rescue their observations from the outer darkness of manuscript, and print their curious information on social and sexual matters out of place in the popular book intended for the Nipptisch and indeed better kept from public view. But, hardly had we begun when "Respectability," that whited sepulchre full of all uncleanness, rose up against us. "Propriety" cried us down with her brazen blatant voice, and the weak-kneed brethren fell away. Yet the organ was much wanted and is wanted still. All now known barbarous tribes in Inner Africa, America and Australia, whose instincts have not been overlaid by reason, have a ceremony which they call "making men." As soon as the boy shows proofs of puberty, he and his coevals are taken in hand by the mediciner and the Fetisheer; and, under priestly tuition, they spend months in the "bush," enduring hardships and tortures which impress the memory till they have mastered the "theorick and practick" of social and sexual relations. Amongst the civilised this fruit of the knowledge-tree must be bought at the price of the bitterest experience, and the consequences of ignorance are peculiarly cruel. Here, then, I find at last an opportunity of noticing in explanatory notes many details of the text which would escape the reader's observation, and I am confident that they will form a repertory of Eastern knowledge in its esoteric phase. The student who adds the notes of Lane ("Arabian Society," etc., before quoted) to mine will know as much of the Moslem East and more than many Europeans who have spent half their lives in Orient lands. For facility of reference an index of anthropological notes is appended to each volume.

The reader will kindly bear with the following technical details. Steinhaeuser and I began and ended our work with the first Bulak ("Bul.") Edition printed at the port of Cairo in A.H. 1251=A.D. 1835. But when preparing my MSS. for print I found the text incomplete, many of the stories being given in epitome and not a few ruthlessly mutilated with head or feet wanting. Like most Eastern scribes the Editor could not refrain from "improvements," which only debased the book; and his sole title to excuse is that the second Bulak Edition (4 vols. A.H. 1279=A.D. 1863), despite its being "revised and corrected by Sheik Mahommed Qotch Al-Adewi," is even worse; and the same may be said of the Cairo Edit. (4 vols. A.H. 1297=A.D. 1881). The Bayrut Text "Alif-Leila we Leila" (4 vols. gt. 8vo, Beirut. 1881-83) is a melancholy specimen of The Nights taken entirely from the Bulak Edition by one Khalil Sarkis and converted to Christianity; beginning without Bismillah, continued with scrupulous castration and ending in ennui and disappointment. I have not used this missionary production.

As regards the transliteration of Arabic words I deliberately reject the artful and complicated system, ugly and clumsy withal, affected by scientific modern Orientalists. Nor is my sympathy with their prime object, namely to fit the Roman alphabet for supplanting all others. Those who learn languages, and many do so, by the eye as well as by the ear, well know the advantages of a special character to distinguish, for instance, Syriac from Arabic, Gujrati from Marathi. Again this Roman hand bewitched may have its use in purely scientific and literary works; but it would be wholly out of place in one whose purpose is that of the novel, to amuse rather than to instruct. Moreover the devices perplex the simple and teach nothing to the learned. Either the reader knows Arabic, in which case Greek letters, italics and "upper case," diacritical points and similar typographic oddities are, as a rule with some exceptions, unnecessary; or he does not know Arabic, when none of these expedients will be of the least use to him.  Indeed it is a matter of secondary consideration what system we prefer, provided that we mostly adhere to one and the same, for the sake of a consistency which saves confusion to the reader. I have especially avoided that of Mr. Lane, adopted by Mr. Payne for special reasons against which it was vain to protest: it represents the debased brogue of Egypt or rather of Cairo; and such a word as Kemer (ez-Zeman) would be utterly unpronounceable to a Badawi. Nor have I followed the practice of my learned friend, Reverend G. P. Badger, in mixing bars and acute accents; the former unpleasantly remind man of those hateful dactyls and spondees, and the latter should, in my humble opinion, be applied to long vowels which in Arabic double, or should double, the length of the shorts. Dr. Badger uses the acute symbol to denote accent or stress of voice; but such appoggio is unknown to those who speak with purest articulation; for instance whilst the European pronounces Mus-cat´, and the Arab villager Mas´-kat; the Children of the Waste, "on whose tongues Allah descended," articulate Mas-kat. I have therefore followed the simple system adopted in my "Pilgrimage," and have accented Arabic words only when first used, thinking it unnecessary to preserve throughout what is an eyesore to the reader and a distress to the printer. In the main I follow "Johnson on Richardson," a work known to every Anglo-Orientalist as the old and trusty companion of his studies early and late; but even here I have made sundry deviations for reasons which will be explained in the terminal Essay. As words are the embodiment of ideas and writing is of words, so the word is the spoken word; and we should write it as pronounced. Strictly speaking, the e-sound and the o-sound (viz. the Italian o-sound not the English which is peculiar to us and unknown to any other tongue) are not found in Arabic, except when the figure Imálah obliges: hence they are called "Yá al-Majhúl" and "Waw al-Majhúl" the unknown y (í) and u. But in all tongues vowel-sounds, the flesh which clothes the bones (consonants) of language, are affected by the consonants which precede and more especially which follow them, hardening and softening the articulation; and deeper sounds accompany certain letters as the sád (ص) compared with the sín (س). None save a defective ear would hold, as Lane does, "Maulid" (=birth-festival) "more properly pronounced 'Molid.'" Yet I prefer Khokh (peach) and Jokh (broad-cloth) to Khukh and Jukh; Ohod (mount) to Uhud; Obayd (a little slave) to Ubayd; and Hosayn (a fortlet, not the P. N. Al-Husayn) to Husayn. As for the short e in such words as "Memlúk" for "Mamlúk" (a white slave), "Eshe" for "Asha" (supper), and "Yemen" for "Al-Yaman," I consider it a flat Egyptianism, insufferable to an ear which admires the Badawi pronunciation. Yet I prefer "Shelebi" (a dandy) from the Turkish Chelebi, to "Shalabi;" "Zebdani" (the Syrian village) to "Zabdani," and "Fes and Miknes" (by the figure Imálah) to "Fás and Miknás," our "Fez and Mequinez."

With respect to proper names and untranslated Arabic words I have rejected all system in favour of common sense. When a term is incorporated in our tongue, I refuse to follow the purist and mortify the reader by startling innovation. For instance, Aleppo, Cairo and Bassorah are preferred to Halab, Kahirah and Al-Basrah; when a word is half-naturalised, like Alcoran or Koran, Bashaw or Pasha, which the French write Pacha; and Mahomet or Mohammed (for Muhammad), the modern form is adopted because the more familiar. But I see no advantage in retaining, simply because they are the mistakes of a past generation, such words as "Roc" (for Rukh), Khalif (a pretentious blunder for Khalífah and better written Caliph) and "genie" (=Jinn) a mere Gallic corruption not so terrible, however, as "a Bedouin" (=Badawi). As little too would I follow Mr. Lane in foisting upon the public such Arabisms as "Khuff" (a riding-boot), "Mikra'ah" (a palm-rod) and a host of others for which we have good English equivalents. On the other hand I would use, but use sparingly, certain Arabic exclamations, as "Bismillah" (=in the name of Allah!) and "Inshallah" (=if Allah please!), which have special applications and which have been made familiar to English ears by the genius of Fraser and Morier.

I here end these desultory but necessary details to address the reader in a few final words. He will not think lightly of my work when I repeat to him that with the aid of my annotations supplementing Lane's, the student will readily and pleasantly learn more of the Moslem's manners and customs, laws and religion than is known to the average Orientalist; and, if my labours induce him to attack the text of The Nights he will become master of much more Arabic than the ordinary Arab owns. This book is indeed a legacy which I bequeath to my fellow-countrymen in their hour of need. Over devotion to Hindu, and especially to Sanskrit literature, has led them astray from those (so-called) "Semitic" studies, which are the more requisite for us as they teach us to deal successfully with a race more powerful than any pagans—the Moslem. Apparently England is ever forgetting that she is at present the greatest Mohammedan empire in the world. Of late years she has systematically neglected Arabism and, indeed, actively discouraged it in examinations for the Indian Civil Service, where it is incomparably more valuable than Greek and Latin. Hence, when suddenly compelled to assume the reins of government in Moslem lands, as Afghanistan in times past and Egypt at present, she fails after a fashion which scandalises her few (very few) friends; and her crass ignorance concerning the Oriental peoples which should most interest her, exposes her to the contempt of Europe as well as of the Eastern world. When the regretable raids of 1883-84, culminating in the miserable affairs of Tokar, Teb and Tamasi, were made upon the gallant Sudani Negroids, the Bisharin outlying Sawakin, who were battling for the holy cause of liberty and religion and for escape from Turkish task-masters and Egyptian tax-gatherers, not an English official in camp, after the death of the gallant and lamented Major Morice, was capable of speaking Arabic. Now Moslems are not to be ruled by raw youths who should be at school and college instead of holding positions of trust and emolument. He who would deal with them successfully must be, firstly, honest and truthful and, secondly, familiar with and favourably inclined to their manners and customs if not to their law and religion. We may, perhaps, find it hard to restore to England those pristine virtues, that tone and temper, which made her what she is; but at any rate we (myself and a host of others) can offer her the means of dispelling her ignorance concerning the Eastern races with whom she is continually in contact.

In conclusion I must not forget to notice that the Arabic ornamentations of these volumes were designed by my excellent friend Yacoub Artin Pasha, of the Ministry of Instruction, Cairo, with the aid of the well-known writing-artist, Shaykh Mohammed Muunis the Cairene. My name, Al-Hajj Abdullah (=the Pilgrim Abdallah) was written by an English calligrapher, the lamented Professor Palmer who found a premature death almost within sight of Suez.

RICHARD F. BURTON.

Wanderers' Club, August 15, 1885.