After Another Interview, I Went Every Evening, First To The Kadhy, And
Then To The Pasha; But, Notwithstanding A Polite Reception At The
Castle, I Could Perceive That My Actions Were Closely Watched.
Bosari
had asked me if I kept a journal; but I answered that the Hedjaz was not
like Egypt, full of antiquities, and that in these barren mountains I
saw nothing worthy of notice.
I was never allowed to be alone for a
moment, and I had reason to suspect that Bosari, with all his assurances
of friendship, was nothing better than a spy. To remain at Tayf for an
indeterminate period, in the situation I now found myself, was little
[p.74] desirable; yet I could not guess the Pasha's intentions with
respect to me. I was evidently considered in no other light than as a
spy sent to this country by the English government, to ascertain its
present state, and report upon it in the East Indies. This, I presume,
was the Pasha's own opinion: he knew me as an Englishman, a name which I
assumed during my travels (I hope without any discredit to that
country), whenever it seemed necessary to appear as an European; because
at that time none but the subjects of England and France enjoyed in the
East any real security: they were considered as too well protected, both
by their governments at home and their ministers at Constantinople, to
be trifled with by provincial governors. The Pasha, moreover, supposed
me to be a man of some rank, for every Englishman travelling in the East
is styled "My lord;" and he was the more convinced of this by a certain
air of dignity which it was necessary for me to assume in a Turkish
court, where modesty of behaviour and affability are quite out of place.
Afraid as he then was of Great Britain, he probably thought it imprudent
to treat me ill, though he did nothing whatever to forward my projects.
As far as he knew, I could have only the five hundred piastres which he
had ordered for me at Djidda, and which were not sufficient to pay my
expenses for any length of time in the Hedjaz. Nothing was said to me
either by him or Bosari of taking my bill upon Cairo, as I had requested
him to do; but this favour I did not again solicit, having money enough
for the present, and expecting a fresh supply from Egypt.
To remain for any length of time at Tayf, in a sort of polite
imprisonment, was little to my taste; yet I could not press my departure
without increasing his suspicions. This was manifest after my first
interview with the Pasha and the Kadhy, and I knew that the reports of
Bosari might considerably influence the mind of Mohammed. Under these
circumstances, I thought the best course was to make Bosari tired of me,
and thus induce him
[p.75] involuntarily to forward my views. I therefore began to act at
his house with all the petulance of an Osmanly.
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Words from 28754 to 29266
of 182297
