I Then Overheard Him Summon His
Mother, Wife, And Other Female Relatives Into The Store-Room, Where His
Treasures Had Been Carefully Stowed Away.
During the forenoon, in the
presence of the visitors, one of Hamid's uncles had urged him, half
jocularly, to bring out the Sahharah.
The Shaykh did not care to do
anything of the kind. Every time a new box is opened in this part of
the world, the owner's generosity is appealed to by those whom a
refusal offends, and he must allow himself to be plundered with the
best possible grace. Hamid therefore prudently suffered all to depart
before exhibiting his spoils; which, to judge by the exclamations of
delight which they elicited from feminine lips, proved highly
satisfactory to those most concerned.
After sleeping, we all set out in a body to the Harim, as this is a
duty which must not be delayed by the pious. The boy Mohammed was in
better spirits, the effect of having borrowed from Hamid, amongst other
articles of clothing, an exceedingly gaudy embroidered coat. As for
Shaykh Nur, he had brushed up his Tarbush, and, by means of some
cast-off dresses of mine, had made himself look like a respectable
Abyssinian slave, in a nondescript toilette, half Turkish, half Indian.
I propose to reserve
[p.295] the ceremony of Ziyarat, or Visitation, for another chapter,
and to conclude this with a short account of our style of living at the
Shaykh's hospitable house.
Hamid's abode is a small corner building, open on the North and East to
the Barr al-Manakhah:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 382 of 571
Words from 105423 to 105687
of 157964
