The Only
Safe Way Of Writing In Presence Of A Badawi Would Be When Drawing Out A
Horoscope Or Preparing A Charm; He Also Objects Not, If You Can Warm
His Heart Upon The Subject, To Seeing You Take Notes In A Book Of
Genealogies.
You might begin with, "And you, men of Harb, on what
origin do you pride yourselves?" And while the listeners became fluent
upon the, to them, all-interesting
[P.241] theme, you could put down whatever you please upon the margin.
The townspeople are more liberal, and years ago the Holy Shrines have
been drawn, surveyed and even lithographed, by Eastern artists: still,
if you wish to avoid all suspicion, you must rarely be seen with pen or
with pencil in hand.
At 6 P.M., descending the stairs of our Wakalah, we found the camels
standing loaded in the street, and shifting their ground in token of
impatience.[FN#32] My Shugduf, perched upon the back of a tall strong
animal, nodded and swayed about with his every motion, impressing me
with the idea that the first step would throw it over the shoulders or
the crupper. The camel-man told me I must climb up the animal's neck,
and so creep into the vehicle. But my foot disabling me from such
exertion, I insisted upon their bringing the beast to squat, which they
did grumblingly.[FN#33] We took leave of Omar Effendi's brothers and
their dependents, who insisted upon paying us the compliment of
accompanying us to the gate.
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