for he could never be made to understand the proper
management of spoons, forks, and crockery. When
set to wash a plate he generally commenced operations
by breaking it. If he failed in this he wiped
it in the most perfunctory manner possible, and,
unless either Aissa or I stood over him to see he did
it properly, he would content himself by scrubbing
it with a handful of sand from the yard of the
caravanserai, or rubbing it over with the comer of
one of the camel bags, the end of his haih, or any
other piece of rag which came to hand.
He contracted, too, a nasty habit of wiping the
spoons and forks upon the rag which I used to
clean my gun with, and this, when I had caught
him the third time in the act and found that it was
hopeless to attempt to break him of it, compelled
me to remove him entirely from the kitchen department
and to relegate him exclusively to the stable.
At ‘ house-work ’ he was a failure.
Aissa’s family had assembled at his house to see
us off. His womenkind were peeping at us through
the crack of his half-opened door, and his son and
heir, a little brat of about three years old, artistically
attired in an extremely skimpy shirt and a metal
talisman, hung by a cord round his neck for keeping
off the evil eye, was standing by El Haj with a
little switch in his hand assisting him in his duties
of driving back the crowd and guarding my belongings
. Aissa, with a barefaced effrontery which deserved
to succeed, reminded me that on starting on a long
journey the Arabs consider it lucky to give someone