[Footnote 245: Burton says here, "The text creates some confusion by applying sullem to staircase and ladder; hence probably the latter is not mentioned by Galland and Co., who speak only of an 'escalier de cinquante marches.'" As far as I can see, Galland was quite right, a staircase (and not a ladder) being, in my judgment, meant in each case, and Sir Richard Burton's translation of sullem min thelathin derejeh as "a ladder of thirty rungs" (see ante p. 82, note {see FN#231}) seems to me founded on a misconception, he being misled by the word "fihi" (see my note ante, p. 83 {see FN#235}). He adds, "sullem in modern Egyptian is used for a flight of steps;" but it signifies both "ladder" and "flight of steps" in the classic tongue; see Lane, p. 1416, colt 2, "sullem, a ladder or a series of stairs or steps, either of wood or clay, etc." His remark would apply better to derej (class. "a way," but in modern parlance "a ladder" or "staircase" which the story-teller uses interchangeably with sullem, in speaking of the stair leading down into the underground, thus showing that he considered the two words synonymous.]