As strangers-even those whose beards have whitened in
the land-know absolutely nothing of what unfortunate natives must
endure, I am tempted to subjoin a short
[P.19]sketch of my adventures in search of a Tazkirah, or passport, at
Alexandria.
Through ignorance which might have cost me dear but for friend
Larking's weight with the local authorities, I had neglected to provide
myself with a passport in England, and it was not without difficulty,
involving much unclean dressing and an unlimited expenditure of broken
English, that I obtained from H.B.M's Consul at Alexandria a
certificate, declaring me to be an Indo-British subject named Abdullah,
by profession a doctor, aged thirty, and not distinguished-at least so
the frequent blanks seemed to denote-by any remarkable conformation of
eyes, nose, or cheek. For this I disbursed a dollar. And here let me
record the indignation with which I did it. That mighty Britain-the
mistress of the seas-the ruler of one-sixth of mankind-should charge
five shillings to pay for the shadow of her protecting wing! That I
cannot speak my modernised "civis sum Romanus" without putting my hand
into my pocket, in order that these officers of the Great Queen may not
take too ruinously from a revenue of seventy millions! O the meanness
of our magnificence! the littleness of our greatness!
My new passport would not carry me without the Zabit or Police
Magistrate's counter-signature, said H.B.M.'s Consul.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 34 of 571
Words from 9627 to 9882
of 157964
