The Jews Sat Disconsolate On The Poop; They Complained Much Of The Cold They Had Suffered In Their Exposed Situation.

Over the left eye of the sage I observed a bloody cut, which he informed me he had received from the old Genoese after he had dragged him out of the cabin for the last time.

I now produced my bottle of Cognac, begging that the crew would partake of it as a slight return for their hospitality. They thanked me, and the bottle went its round; it was last in the hands of the old mate, who, after looking for a moment at the sage, raised it to his mouth, where he kept it a considerable time longer than any of his companions, after which he returned it to me with a low bow. The sage now inquired what the bottle contained: I told him Cognac or aguardiente, whereupon with some eagerness he begged that I would allow him to take a draught. "How is this?" said I; "yesterday you told me that it was a forbidden thing, an abomination." "Yesterday," said he, "I was not aware that it was brandy; I thought it wine, which assuredly is an abomination, and a forbidden thing." "Is it forbidden in the Torah?" I inquired. "Is it forbidden in the law of God?" "I know not," said he, "but one thing I know, that the sages have forbidden it." "Sages like yourself," cried I with warmth; "sages like yourself, with long beards and short understandings:

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