The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I.: Commonly Called the Arabian Nights' Entertainments

The reader may perhaps desire a more minute analysis of Arabian beauty. The following is the most complete that I can offer him.--"Four things in a woman should be _black_; the hair of the head, the eyebrows, the eyelashes, and the dark part of the eyes: four _white_; the complexion of the skin, the white of the eyes, the teeth, and the legs: four _red_; the tongue, the lips, the middle of the cheeks, and the gums: four _round_; the head, the neck, the fore-arms, and the ankles: four _long_; the back, the fingers, the arms, and the legs:[50] four _wide_; the forehead, the eyes, the bosom, and the hips: four _fine_; the eyebrows, the nose, the lips, and the fingers: four _thick_; the lower part of the back, the thighs, the calves of the legs, and the knees: four _small_; the ears, the breasts, the hands, and the feet."[51] NOTE 20. Mes'ood is a common proper name of men, and signifies "happy," or "made happy." NOTE 21.--_On the_ Jinn, _or Genii._ The frequent mention of Genii in this work, and the erroneous accounts that have been given of these fabulous beings by various European writers, have induced me to examine the statements respecting them in several Arabic works; and I shall here offer the result of my investigation, with a previous account of the Angels.