During My Preceding Journey He Had
Proved Himself A Faithful And Useful Companion; And Although I Have
Since Had Several Other Slaves In My Possession, I Never Found One Equal
To Him.
The Greek captain sold him for me, in the slave-market of
Djidda, for forty-eight dollars.
[This slave cost me sixteen dollars at
Shendy; thus, the profits of sale on one slave defrayed almost the whole
expense of the four months' journey through Nubia, which I had performed
in the spring.]
The present state of the Hedjaz rendered travelling through it, in the
disguise of a beggar, or at least for a person of my outward appearance,
impracticable; and the slow progress of my recovery made me desirous of
obtaining comforts: I therefore equipped myself anew, in the dress of a
reduced Egyptian gentleman, and immediately wrote to Cairo for a supply
of money; but this I could hardly receive in less than three or four
months. Being determined, however, to remain in the Hedjaz until the
time of the pilgrimage in the following November, it became necessary
for me to find the means of procuring subsistence until my funds should
arrive. Had I been disappointed in all my hopes, I should then have
followed the example of numbers of the poor Hadjis, even those of
respectable families, who earn a daily subsistence, during their stay in
the Hedjaz, by manual labour; but before I resorted to this last
expedient, I thought I might try another. I had indeed brought with me a
letter of introduction from Seyd Mohammed el Mahrouky, [The original
characters of these and other names, both of persons and places, are
given in the Index of Arabic words at the end of this volume.] the first
merchant
[p.4] in Cairo, to Araby Djeylany, the richest merchant of Djidda; but
this I knew could be of no use, as it was not a letter of credit; and I
did not present it.
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Page 14 of 669
Words from 3628 to 3956
of 182297
