Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 377, March 1847Various
General
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 377, March 1847
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
with thinking how soon the poor fellow would be stabled and shod.
The bridge, over which we passed, was very pretty and not very shaky,
nor by any means so broken-backed as are the greater number of Turkish
specimens. At the moment of our passing, it was lined with venerable old
fellows, who had turned out to enjoy their evening pipe. They were
dressed in the most approved and unreformed style, and many of them had
long beards, descending to the girdle. They sat in perfect stillness, no
man speaking to, or seeming to care for his neighbour. Indeed, from
experiences among them, we might almost argue that though man is by
nature gregarious, he is conversational only by acquirement. At any
rate, they show how few words may answer all the purposes of business,
and how little all of us would talk, if wives and domestic matters were
proscribed subjects. As we passed through the midst of them, not a soul
looked at us, not a nudge did one of them give to his neighbour, not a
puff less of smoke was emitted. One might have concluded it to be with
them an every day occurrence to see three Europeans ride in such style
into their town. Yet you might be bold to say, that they had never seen
such an entry before. The mode of travelling is so strictly regulated by
necessity, that, in all probability, of all the few Franks who have
entered this place, none have ever done so in the independent style we
affected. At least if, by chance, some couple may have done so, it has
certainly been where there has existed a knowledge of the people and
language. If our appearance did not at first enlighten them as to our
greenness and ignorance, we soon stood confessed by our attempts at
inquiry. Our first object was, of course, to discover the habitation of
the Seraph, whose name we had written down in our own character; as the
hieroglyphics which stood for direction to the letter would have been no
guide to us. Now, our stock of words did not go the length of any direct
inquiry; for _Katch Sahet_, our old stand-by, was now used up.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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