COMMENTARY.

This song is Nubian, and is sung by the Nubian sailors when they come down from Ladi Halfe to Osuan. It is for solo and coro. The coro repeat always the first verse, with the same melody: and the solo also repeats the same melody with different words. It begins on a child, and finishes on his mother. "Thou dear child of thy dear mother," says the song, “speakest Arabic like a young cock; but thy mother speaks with eyes and heart, and makes every one understand what she desires”— satis superque. I knew the other verses per extensum, but I lost the little book in which I had written them; I am not sorry for that, but regret the other notes and songs, both Arabic and Nubian, which I had in my former journey on the Nile, and copied them in the same little book. As I did not intend publishing those notes I neglected them, and now I regret deeply their loss; but post factum lauda.

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No. 13.

When they wish to amuse themselves at night, they sing in Coro as follows:

These two lines are the answer of a girl to her lover, as is easily seen. She was at Damascus, and her lover at Cairo. He wrote her a letter with some poetry, and she answered him with two lines; that is to say: "Thy salute came," &c. The music of these two lines is really beautiful and expressive.

SPECIMENS OF OTHER ARABIC SONGS,

WITHOUT THE MUSIC.

No. 1.

WHEN the sailors or others are in society, passing a merry evening, then one is invited to sing a mual (ritornello, an epigram). This may be either on love, native land, absence of a beloved person, or on the deeds of a brave man. The muallil (the plural of mual, which properly means an object which goes and comes back), are generally about love, and begin always with the same exordium, "Ialeli" (0 my night).

Every one knows that the Arabs were once extremely civilised, and possessed the sciences of the most sublime spheres. At one epoch they had about seventy poets, and they were almost all of the same class. These, besides their compositions on brave men and pathetic subjects, had written on love. As the majority of the muallil are on love, and the bazaar of love is generally open at night, they always begin them with Ialeli (O my night). After the invocation to the night (which invocation is always sung with great taste), the singer begins to sing the mual word by word (it is impossible to adopt their manner of singing it to European music), repeating it with different melody, and cadence according to its weight; especially if it is the name of some girl, her rosy cheeks, or sparkling eyes. Every time the singer arrives at such a sweet name, the hearers groan deeply Heee! like many hungry wolves or wounded stags. The following mual is on a covetous man, who never did good to any one :—

"They told me the covetous died. I said: the living one has got rid of him. He (covetous) was dead in the world when living, because he never bestowed charity on any. God will make him meet with fire, which shall burn him cruelly."

Prosit. Mr. Covetous.

If there is any covetous, who will read this mual, I hope that he may trample on his avarice, and be generous, to have a good song of requiescat pace after his death.

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No. 2.

MUAL.-A youth sings to his beloved one sitting opposite to him on the top of a high mountain, without being able to join her; because there was flowing down the valley below a rapid stream, which prevented him passing. He was almost in despair. Seeing his beloved sitting on the top of the mountain opposite, he began to sing :

"Ialeli (O my night). I was sitting on the top of a high mountain, and between me and my beloved, flowed a great river. I was clapping my hands and shouting: Why didst thou not come before the stream became impassable? Why didst thou not write to me on paper and forward it? Ialeli, Ialeli, O my loss!"

No. 3.

MUAL-A young girl speaking to her lover :

"Ialeli! O, my lover; O, most beloved. Why didst thou disappear from me? Why didst thou not moisten (irrigate) thy love, which thou hadst planted in my heart? Ah! severing a budding love is a pain, whose weight none, except those who are transfixed with it, can perceive."

No. 5.

The answer of the lover to her :

"O my rose, my eyes, my heart, and my soul, I have no rest! Thou knowest my heart, and I thine. I am burning for thee as you are for me. But the time is near when we shall rest on the downs of Naam (bed made of ostrich feathers). Rejoice! rejoice!"

No. 5.

A young girl, speaking to her lover in her letter as follows:

"Ialeli! thy person (form) is sitting on my head, amongst my garland of pearls, roses, and jessamine; thy beautiful eyes are always before mine, and prevent me from embroidering thee the cap. O! Lilleh taali (O! for the sake of God, come), do not delay any longer. My heart palpitates when thy sweet name gently touches my lips; then my eyes rain a stream of love. I want you to come, O my beloved! I want you to come! Come quick to rejoice!"

No. 6.

The Arabs (as I mentioned in note 1, chap. 9) are rude in their life, but naturally eloquent in their expressions. Every Arab is able to compose a mual ex abrupto, according to the theme proposed by the person who requests it. When the Arabs travel at night they occupy themselves by singing muallil, to banish sleep, and to lessen the feeling of fatigue, and because both camels and dromedaries like their songs, and travel more freely. Here is a song of the Arab Ababde on themselves crossing the Desert. They envy the inhabitants of Bagdad, because they are surrounded by water and live in a paradise :

"I got up in the morning and prayed_to the Prophet, O fortune of the fortunate, O inhabitants of Bagdad!"

This second one is of the same Arabs on Mecca the celebrated :

:

"Three colours, O three colours, are seen in Mecca, mother of the world, country of Damascus! (it means Syria.) Three colours, O three colours on thy seat, O leader of the Arabs and their beasts! Thou hast thy balance in the centre of the world."

They say "three colours, O three colours," because when the Mohammedans go to visit Mecca they have their banners of red, green, and yellow (the half moon in the middle is white). This is the reason why they sing three colours. "Mecca, mother of the world," because they believe