It Was At Once Given By Dr. Shaw, The Secretary, And It
Proved Of Much Use Eventually.
It was purposely made as small as
possible, in order to fit into a talisman case.
But the traveller must
bear in mind, that if his letters of credit be addressed to Orientals,
the sheet of paper should always be large, and grand-looking. These
people have no faith in notes,-commercial, epistolary, or diplomatic.
[FN#17] Before leaving Cairo, I bought English sovereigns for 112, and
sold them in Arabia for 122 piastres. "Abu Takahs," (pataks, or Spanish
pillar-dollars), as they are called in Al-Hijaz, cost me 24 piastres,
and in the Holy City were worth 28. The "Sinku" (French five franc
piece) is bought for 22 piastres in Egypt, and sells at 24 in Arabia.
The silver Majidi costs 20 at Cairo, and is worth 22 in the Red Sea,
and finally I gained 3 piastres upon the gold "Ghazi" of 19. Such was
the rate of exchange in 1853. It varies, however, perpetually, and in
1863 may be totally different.
[FN#18] The reason of this will be explained in a future chapter.
[FN#19] The Consular dragoman is one of the greatest abuses I know. The
tribe is, for the most part, Levantine and Christian, and its
connections are extensive. The father will perhaps be interpreter to
the English, the son to the French Consulate. By this means the most
privy affairs will become known to every member of the department,
except the head, and eventually to that best of spy-trainers, the
Turkish government.
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