Their Boxes Were Full Of Valuables, Arms,
Clothes, Pipes, Slippers, Sweetmeats, And Other "Notions"; But Nothing
Short Of Starvation Would Have Induced Them To Pledge The Smallest
Article.
Foreseeing that their company would be an advantage, I hearkened
favourably to the honeyed request for a few crowns.
The boy Mohammed
obtained six dollars; Hamid about five pounds, as I intended to make
his house at Al-Madinah my home; Omar Effendi three dollars; Sa'ad the
Demon two-I gave the money to him at Yambu',-and Salih Shakkar fifty
piastres. But since in these lands, as a rule, no one ever lends coins,
or, borrowing, ever returns them, I took care to exact service from the
first, to take two rich coats from the second, a handsome pipe from the
third, a "bala" or yataghan from the fourth, and from the fifth an
imitation Cashmere shawl. After which, we sat down and drew
[p.166]out the agreement. It was favourable to me: I lent them Egyptian
money, and bargained for repayment in the currency of Al-Hijaz, thereby
gaining the exchange, which is sometimes sixteen per cent. This was
done, not so much for the sake of profit, as with the view of becoming
a Hatim,[FN#3] by a "never mind" on settling day. My companions having
received these small sums, became affectionate and eloquent in my
praise: they asked me to make one of their number at meals for the
future, overwhelmed me with questions, insisted upon a present of
sweetmeats, detected in me a great man under a cloud,-perhaps my claims
to being a Darwaysh assisted them to this discovery,-and declared that
I should perforce be their guest at Meccah and Al-Madinah.
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