him either to find his way to a bazar through the crowds of people,
or to find his way back again--as all the houses were so much alike.
I then told him to go straight on in the street we were in, turning
neither to the right nor the left till he met with some shop where
we might get what we wanted: and, in order to direct him to the
place on his return, I agreed to lean half out of the window, so
that he could not fail to see me. No sooner, however, did he sally
forth, than the people, men, women, and children, began to stare at
him on all sides, as if he had dropped from the moon; some stopped
and gazed, and numbers followed him as if he had been a criminal
about being led to execution. Nor was I in a more enviable position:
the people soon caught sight of me with my head and shoulders out of
the window; and in a few minutes a mob had collected opposite the
door. What was I to do? If I withdrew myself, my friend on returning
would have no mark to find the house, while, if I remained where I
was, the curiosity of the crowd would certainly increase. I kept my
post, however, while every one that passed stopped and gazed like
the rest, till there was actually no room for vehicles to pass; and
in this unpleasant situation I remained fully an hour, when seeing
my friend returning, I went down and opened the door for him. He
told me he had gone straight on, till he came to a fruit-shop, at
the corner of another street, when he went in, and laying two
shillings on the counter, said in Oordu, (the polished dialect of
Hindustani,) 'Give me some fruit.' The shopman, not understanding
him, spoke to him in English; to which he replied again in Oordu, 'I
want some fruit!' pointing at the same time to the money, to signify
that he wanted two shillings' worth of fruit. The man, however,
continued confounded; and my friend at last, not knowing of what
sort the fruits were, whether sour or sweet, bitter or otherwise,
ventured, after much hesitation and fruitless attempts to
communicate with the shopman by signs and gestures, to take up four
apples, and then made his retreat in the best manner he could,
followed, as here, by the rabble. I at last caught a glimpse of him,
as I have mentioned, and let him in; and we sat down together, and
breakfasted on these four apples, my friend taking two of them, and
I the others."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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