p. 5 Aid el Kebir—Muslim holy day, when sheep are slaughtered en masse, commemorating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac.
p. 5 Perdicaris—a rich Greek family, whose patriarch was kidnapped by Berbers in the early twentieth century.
p. 6 Yalatif—expression of despair, as in “God help us” or “My God!”
p. 7 gandura—hoodless, short-sleeved Moorish robe.
p. 8 Sidi Mesmudi—a religious sanctuary on Monte Viejo. (sidi: Sir, Lord.)
p. 10 Hamdul-láh—Praise be to Allah.
p. 16 motui—kif smoker’s kit, containing the sebsi or kif pipe.
p. 27 Skulls—this is the literal meaning of calaveras, the Spanish word used here.
p. 43 “nobody in his right mind . . .”—common Moroccan belief.
p. 43 “Become who you are”—André Gide, Les nouvelle nourritures.
p. 43 Báraca l-láh u fik—God give you blessings.
p. 45 Djebel Musa—of the two pillars of Hercules, the one on the African shore; the other is Djebel Tarik (Arabic for Gibraltar).
p. 52 Polisario—the army in the old Spanish Sahara.
p. 60 attup—bear (Moroccan Arabic).
p. 61 B’slama—Goodbye (Moroccan Arabic).
p. 80 men were dogs—in the original Spanish, the word loosely translated here as “dogs” is calaveras, which literally means skulls but in Argentine slang refers to men devoted to pleasures of the flesh: playboys.
p. 81 nabula—kif container made of a sheep’s bladder.
p. 86 Maghrebi—Moroccan Arabic. (The Arab name for Morocco was El-Maghrib or Moghreb el aksa: the farthest west.)
p. 89 khay—brother (Moroccan Arabic).
p. 90 Intina yehudi!—You are a Jew (a curse, Moroccan Arabic).
p. 96 maquila—practice of producing goods in a zone outside of the goods’ trademark origin. (Cf. maquiladora, Mexican factories producing U.S. goods).