d. The buskins described in the text as sheathed behind with silver
are those of an Arnaut robber, who was my host (he had quitted the
profession) at his Pyrgo, near Gastouni in the Morea; they were plated
in scales one over the other, like the back of an armadillo.

[Gastuni lies some eight miles S.W. of Palaeopolis, the site of the
ancient Elis. The "Pyrgo" must be the Castle of Chlemutzi (Castel
Tornese), built by Geoffrey II. of Villehouardin, circ. A.D. 1218.]

[gi] {185}
_What--have I lived to curse the day?_--[MS. M.]
_To curse--if I could curse--the day_.--[MS., ed. 1892.]

[gj] {186} _I swear it by Medina's shrine_.--[MS. erased.]

[163] The characters on all Turkish scimitars contain sometimes the name
of the place of their manufacture, but more generally a text from the
Koran, in letters of gold. Amongst those in my possession is one with a
blade of singular construction: it is very broad, and the edge notched
into serpentine curves like the ripple of water, or the wavering of
flame. I asked the Armenian who sold it, what possible use such a figure
could add: he said, in Italian, that he did not know; but the Mussulmans
had an idea that those of this form gave a severer wound; and liked it
because it was "piu feroce." I did not much admire the reason, but
bought it for its peculiarity.

[Compare _Lalla Rookh_ ("Chandos Classics," p. 373)--"The flashing of
their swords' rich marquetry."]

[164] {187} It is to be observed, that every allusion to any thing or
personage in the Old Testament, such as the Ark, or Cain, is equally the
privilege of Mussulman and Jew: indeed, the former profess to be much
better acquainted with the lives, true and fabulous, of the patriarchs,
than is warranted by our own sacred writ; and not content with Adam,
they have a biography of Pre-Adamites. Solomon is the monarch of all
necromancy, and Moses a prophet inferior only to Christ and Mahomet.
Zuleika is the Persian name of Potiphar's wife; and her amour with
Joseph constitutes one of the finest poems in their language. It is,
therefore, no violation of costume to put the names of Cain, or Noah,
into the mouth of a Moslem.

[_A propos_ of this note "for the ignorant," Byron writes to Murray
(November 13, 1813), "Do you suppose that no one but the Galileans are
acquainted with Adam, and Eve, and Cain, and Noah?--_Zuleika_ is the
Persian _poetical name_ for Potiphar's wife;" and, again, November 14,
"I don't care one l