I Formed An Acquaintance With One Of The Perfume- Sellers, And Daily Passed An Hour In The Morning, And Another In The Afternoon, Seated On The Bench Before His Shop, Smoking My Nargyle, And Treating My Friend With Coffee.

Here I heard the news:

- Whether any great hadjy had arrived the preceding night; what law-suits had been carried before

[p.121] the Kadhy; what was going forward in Mohammed Aly's army; or what great commercial bargains had been concluded. Sometimes European news would be discussed, such as the last fortunes of Bonaparte; for the pilgrims who arrived from Constantinople and Greece were continually bringing news from Europe. I usually spent the early part of each morning, and the later part of the evening, in walking about the town, and frequenting the coffee-houses in its extremities, where I might meet with Bedouins, and, by treating them with a cup of coffee, soon engage them to talk about their country and their nation. During the mid-day hours I staid at home: the first part of the night I passed in the great square of the mosque, where a cooling breeze always reigns; here, seated upon a carpet, which my slave spread for me, I indulged in recollections of far distant regions, while the pilgrims were busily engaged in praying and walking round the Kaaba.

At the eastern extremity of the Soueyga, the street changes its name into that of Shamye, which is applied also to several by-streets on either side, those on the right leading towards the mountain, and those on the left towards the mosque.

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Words from 45742 to 46009 of 182297