There were no vowels, but only consonant sounds, the vowels being supplied in reading, just as if one should write the words fthr or dghtr, and read them father and daughter.

Their letters were as follows: P, K, T, B, G, D, F, Ch, Th, M, L, N, S, H, R.There were also three others, which have no equivalents in English.
It soon became evident to me that Layelah had a complete ascendancy over her father; that she was not only the Malca of the amir, but the presiding spirit and the chief administrative genius of the whole nation of the Kosekin.

She seemed to be a new Semiramis--one who might revolutionize an empire and introduce a new order of things.

Such, indeed, was her high ambition, and she plainly avowed it to me; but what was more, she frankly informed me that she regarded me as a Heaven-sent teacher--as one who in this darkness could tell her of the nations of light--who could instruct her in the wisdom of other and greater races, and help her to accomplish her grand designs.
As for Almah, she seemed quite beneath the notice of the aspiring Layelah.

She never noticed her, she never spoke of her, and she always made her visits to me after Almah had gone..