He Declared That It Had Been
Snatched By Him From A Konsul (Consul) At Jeddah, And He Volubly
Related, In A Mixture Of Albanian, Turkish, And Arabic, The History Of
His Acquisition.
He begged me to supply him with a little poison that
"would not lie," for the purpose of quieting a troublesome enemy, and
he carefully stowed away in his pouch five grains of calomel, which I
gave him for that laudable purpose.
Before taking leave he pressed me
strongly to go and drink with him; I refused to do so during the day,
but, wishing to see how these men sacrifice to Bacchus, promised
compliance that night. About nine o'clock, when the Caravanserai was
quiet, I took a pipe, and a tobacco-pouch,[FN#26] stuck my dagger in my
belt, and slipped into Ali Agha's room. He was sitting on a bed spread
upon the ground: in front of him stood four wax candles (all Orientals
hate drinking in any but a bright light), and a tray containing a basin
of stuff like soup maigre, a dish of cold stewed meat, and two bowls of
Salatah,[FN#27] sliced cucumber, and curds. The "materials" peeped out
of an iron pot filled with water; one was a long, thin, white-glass
flask of 'Araki, the other a bottle of some strong
[p.136]perfume. Both were wrapped up in wet rags, the usual
refrigerator.
Ali Agha welcomed me politely, and seeing me admire the preparations,
bade me beware how I suspected an Albanian of not knowing how to drink;
he made me sit by him on the bed, threw his dagger to a handy distance,
signalled me to do the same, and prepared to begin the bout. Taking up
a little tumbler, in shape like those from which French postilions used
to drink la goutte, he inspected it narrowly, wiped out the interior
with his forefinger, filled it to the brim, and offered it to his
guest[FN#28] with a bow. I received it with a low salam, swallowed its
contents at once, turned it upside down in proof of fair play, replaced
it upon the floor, with a jaunty movement of the arm, somewhat like a
pugilist delivering a "rounder," bowed again, and requested him to help
himself. The same ceremony followed on his part. Immediately after each
glass,-and rapidly the cup went about,-we swallowed a draught of water,
and ate a spoonful of the meat or the Salatah in order to cool our
palates. Then we re-applied ourselves to our pipes, emitting huge
puffs, a sign of being "fast" men, and looked facetiously at each
other,-drinking being considered by Moslems a funny and pleasant sort
of sin.
The Albanian captain was at least half seas over when we began the
bout, yet he continued to fill and to drain without showing the least
progress towards ebriety. I in vain for a time expected the bad-masti
(as the Persians call it,) the horse play, and the gross facetiae,
which generally
[p.137]accompany southern and eastern tipsiness.
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