Vol. Ill, No, 9.] Sign-, Gesture', etc,, amomst the Persians. 621 



[N.S.] 



There is, or perLaps was, a kind of " Language of Flowers " 

 by which "object letters," as Rudyard Kipling styles them, 

 may be sent. For instance, cai^damoms, hil Jbk, signify haldk-am 

 ^^ , " I am dead (on your account) "; pomegranates anrtr 

 j^\ , bimar-am CJ^^ " I ^^ ^^^k ^o^-' thee," or mi-sUzam Ay^ , 

 "I burn in thy love*'; ttiranj ''citron," dar ^ishg-i tu nnij 

 (tab) daram ^jt^ (waj) ^j>»<3^*>j^, " I am fevered for love of 



Ll »1 7:=^ 7-- • ^ 7T- 7-1 -. • .■•r* 



a 



thee " ; dar-chmi cinnamon, dar khana hich nJst c:>*-J^ ^i*^ Si'AL j^^ 

 "there is nothing in the house,' «*.e., I am too poor to give 

 yon anything " ; apples sib = bu-sa ml-khipflham >»A|j.db.A-« A^j , 

 I want a kiss " ; pistachio nuts pista ^ aJ-mj — bu^xi^yi labha-yi 



turd mt-khivoliam i*^l>^^ \y ci'^t^*'*^-? > '' I want a kiss of 



thy lips"; the jujube fruit ^tmnfib — diMio. Stb, *' npples," 

 however, tnay signify sirt "satiety," z.e., " I am weary of you. " 

 A Persian fiiend of the writer told him that once in his family 

 a qufUTel arose from tlie misinterpretation of a present of ap[)les 

 sent by him to his cousin^ to wham ho was half-engaged. 



In the patheiic stDry of ^^ Hzeez and ^zeezeh^^ in the first 

 volume of Lane's Arabian Nights, there ai-e many instances of 

 the Eastern siern-lar»e"aaoro at which Eastern women are such 

 adepts. 



The fourth story of the Nafhnt^ l-Yuman relates how an 

 Arab fell in love with a damsel at first sight and wrote proposing 

 an assignation. The reply was merely a gold button and a bit of 



ambeigris. The recipient was puijzh d, but his small daughter 

 at once solved the difficulty and explained that j) zmr " button " 

 signified jj zur (Imperative) " visit,'' while the black amber- 

 gris meant " the sececy of night," 



The Ua^bat^ H-Ktimayt, au Arabic treatise on wine, relates 

 that a certain Sultan, an<rered with Al-Mutjinabbi the famous 

 poet, threatened to kill him. To entice him back into his 

 power the Sultayi directed his secretary to write him a flattering 

 letter. The secretary was an old friend of Al-Mutanabbi. 

 When he reached the customary words that end many Arabic 



letters, namely, In sJia* Allah ^1 >Li d\, lie placed a tashd>d 



over the vun of tlie first word, writing it lyt. Tiie Sultan 



read the letter and affixed his seal. Al-Matanabbi however noticed 

 the incorrect tashdul, pondered on it, and then fled ; for amongst tlie 



lDtf>= Arabic "house"; chldaji {rt. chin)''var chldan : cjnnanion 



is hollow. 



« Poets compare a mi^tresa's lips to the pMa. When boiled the shell 



Ke Tiisfa nnfins likft njirfed lioa iiTid shows a red streak inside. 



of the pista opens like pjurted lipa fttid show 



