erciful, the Compassionate," and
concludes; "Pray, therefore, to Him morning and evening."

[Illustration: Governor's Palace, Manfalut. Shewing a Window of Arab
Lattice Work, similar to that of the Damascus Room in the South Kensington
Museum.]

A number of bosses and panels, detached from their original framework, are
also to be seen, and are good specimens of Saracenic design. A bedstead,
with inlay of ivory and numerous small squares of glass, under which are
paper flowers, is also a good example of native work.

[Illustration: Specimen of Saracenic Panelling of Cedar, Ebony, and Ivory.
(_In the South Kensington Museum._)]

The illustration on p. 142 is of a carved wood door from Cairo, considered
by the South Kensington authorities to be of Syrian work. It shews the
turned spindles, which the Arabs generally introduce into their ornamental
woodwork: and the carving of the vase of flowers is a good specimen of the
kind. The date is about the seventeenth century.

For those who would gain an extended knowledge of Saracenic or Arabian Art
industry, "_L'Art Arabe,"_ by M. Prisse d'Aveunes, should be consulted.
There will be found in this work many carefully-prepared illustrations of
the cushioned seats, the projecting balconies of the lattice work already
alluded to, of octagonal inlaid tables, and such other articles of
furniture as were used by the Arabs. The South Kensington Handbook,
"Persian Art," by Major-General Murdoch Smith, R.E., is also a very handy
and useful work in a small compass.

While discussing Saracenic or Arab furniture, it is worth noticing that
our word "sofa" is of Arab derivation, the word "suffah" meaning "a couch
or place for reclining before the door of Eastern houses." In Skeat's
Dictionary the word is said to have first occurred in the "Guardian," in
the year 1713, and the phrase is quoted from No. 167 of that old
periodical of the day--"He leapt off from the sofa on which he sat."

[Illustration: A Carved Door of Syrian Work. (_South Kensington Museum._)]

From the same source the word "ottoman," which Webster defines as "a
stuffed seat without a back, first used in Turkey," is obviously obtained,
and the modern low-seated upholsterer's chair of to-day is doubtless the
development of a French adaptation of the Eastern cushion or "divan," this
latter word having become applied to the seats which furnished the hall or
council chamber in an Eastern palace, although its original meaning