Cairo, no longer to depend upon the ordinary o r rational
courfe o f events, but upon the arbitrary, oppreffive w ill o f
•irrational tyrants. Accordingly I had, fo r about an hour,
loft myfelf in the very uncommon enjoyment o f a moll
profound lleep, when I was -awakened by the noife o f a
a number o f ftrange tongues ; and, before I could recolledl
m y fe lf fulliciently -to account what-this ftrange tumult
might be, eleven or twelve foldiers, very like the worft o f
banditti, forrounded the carpet whereon I was aüeep. I had
prefence o f m ind fuÆcient to rccolleft this was not a place
where people wererobbedand m urdered with ou t caufe; and,
•convinced in my own mind that I had given none, from that
alone I inferred I was not to be robbed or murdered at
that inftant. Without this, the appearance o f the ftrangers,
•their drefs, language, and behaviour, a ll joined toperfuade
me o f the contrary. I afked them, with fome inrpriic, -
What is the matter, Sirs ? What is the meaning o f ' this
freedom ?” Thé anfwer was in Turkilh, “ A ya ! Aya! Get
up ! the Bey calls you.”— The. Bèy, fays I, certainly calls at
a very unfeafonable hour.” The anfwer was, “ Get up, or
w e will carry you by force.”— I fancy friends, faid I, you
have miftaken me for fome other perfon, I have not been
here above two hours, and ftnce that time have never been
out o f the convent. It is impoffible the Bey fhould know that
I am hère. What ijgniiies.it to us, fays one in ling-uaFran-
■ca, whether he knows you are here or not ? he has fent us for
you, and we are come, Aya! Aya! g e t up!” He put his hand
forward to take me by the arm. “ Keep your diilance, you
infolent b lackguard, faid I, remember I am an Engliihman ;
do not lay your hands upon me. I f the Bey calls me, he
i? mailer in his own country, and I will wait upon him ;
But hands o fft though I have not feen Mahomet Bey thefe
three
three years, he knows what is owing to his own character
better than to fuffer a flaVe like you to lay his filthy
hands on a ftranger like me.”— “ No ! No ! Mallem, fays the -
man that fpoke Italian, we w ill do you no h a rm .' Ifmael,,
that you brought from Habeih,has been with the Bey, and
he wants to fee. you ; and that is all.”— Then flay withou t,-
fkid I, till. I am ready, and ! w ill oome to yoU prefently,”^
Out they went: I heard th'em eryingto the Galoyeros fo rt
drink, but they never in their lives were in a place where
they could addrefs themfelves worfe for either meat or liquors
; on the Other hand, I did not keep them long in drefll
ing. I had no iliirt on, nor had I been mailer o f ' one fo r
fourteen months pail. I had a waiftcoat o f coarfe, b row n ,,
woollen blanket, trowfers o f the fame, and an upper blan- •
ket o f the fame wrapt about m e, and in thefe I was ly in g ..
I, had cut o ff my long beard at Furfhout, but ftill wore prodigious
muftachoes. I had a thin, white, muflin cloth rou n d .
a red Turkifh cap. Which fefved m e fo r a night-cap, a girdle •
o f coarfe woollen Cloth that wrapt round my Waifi: eight
or ten times, and Twaddled me up from the middle to the
pit o f my ilomach, but Without either*£hoeS or Hackings.-
In the left o f m y girdle I had two F.ngliih piftols mounted
with iilver, and on the right hand a common crooked Abyf-
finian knife, with a handle, o f a. rhinoceros horn. Thus
equipt, I was uihered by the banditti, in a d a rk . and very,
windy night, to the door o f the convent.
, T he Sarach, or commander o f the party, rodeupon a mui^fc-
and, as a m ark o f extreme eonfideration, he had brought dil
afs for me, with fods, or a carfaddie upon his back, the only
animal that, .to, the fhame of.our Chriftian rulers, any o f our-
■jj... faith.