Among Ibrahim's People, There Was A Black Named Ibrahimawa.
This fellow
was a native of Bornu, and had been taken when a boy of twelve years old
and sold at Constantinople; he formerly belonged to Mehemet Ali Pasha;
he had been to London and Paris, and during the Crimean war he was at
Kertch.
Altogether he was a great traveller, and he had a natural taste
for geography and botany, that marked him as a wonderful exception to
the average of the party. He had run away from his master in Egypt, and
had been vagabondizing about in Khartoum in handsome clothes,
negro-like, persuading himself that the public admired him, and thought
that he was a Bey. Having soon run through his money, he had engaged
himself to Koorshid Aga to serve in his White Nile expedition.
He was an excellent example of the natural instincts of the negro
remaining intact under all circumstances. Although remarkably superior
to his associates, his small stock of knowledge was combined with such
an exaggerated conceit, that he was to me a perpetual source of
amusement, while he was positively hated by his comrades, both by Arabs
and blacks, for his overbearing behaviour. Having seen many countries,
he was excessively fond of recounting his adventures, all of which had
so strong a colouring of the "Arabian Nights," that he might have been
the original "Sinbad the Sailor." His natural talent for geography was
really extraordinary; he would frequently pay me a visit, and spend
hours in drawing maps with a stick upon the sand, of the countries he
had visited, and especially of the Mediterranean, and the course from
Egypt and Constantinople to England.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 265 of 662
Words from 71800 to 72080
of 178435
