DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5295#0268
234 TRAVELS IN EGYPT, NUBTA,
agate bandied dirk of English manufacture. It was of trifling
value, but it was absolutely necessary to offer some return.
The only thing I could present was a neat pocket compass,
whose value I enhanced, by begging the person who carried
it to the emir to say, that as my visit to him was entirely
accidental, I had not provided myself with any thing more
worthy of his acceptance; yet, as I could not leave him
without some token of respect, in return for his gift, I pre-
sented him with an instrument that had been of service to
me in my travels, and might be of use to him in his; adding,
that it would alwa3's point to the north, the quarter where
lie might be sure of finding friends if he wanted them. My
present and my message were accepted in such good part,
that I was desired to return again to the emir. The priest
before mentioned accompanied me to the apartment. The
guard and my attendants were dismissed, and we carried on
a conversation on the affairs of Europe with much less re-
serve than in my first interview.
I was pressed to remain at Deir-el-Kamr as long as I
chose; and was invited to return to Mount Libanon, where I
might be certain of protection and hospitality.
The physiognomy of the emir was good; he was about
fifty years of age, rendered older in appearance by a long
beard. He was dressed in a rich vest of blue cloth, trimmed
with ermine. The shawls he wore round his head and waist,
agate bandied dirk of English manufacture. It was of trifling
value, but it was absolutely necessary to offer some return.
The only thing I could present was a neat pocket compass,
whose value I enhanced, by begging the person who carried
it to the emir to say, that as my visit to him was entirely
accidental, I had not provided myself with any thing more
worthy of his acceptance; yet, as I could not leave him
without some token of respect, in return for his gift, I pre-
sented him with an instrument that had been of service to
me in my travels, and might be of use to him in his; adding,
that it would alwa3's point to the north, the quarter where
lie might be sure of finding friends if he wanted them. My
present and my message were accepted in such good part,
that I was desired to return again to the emir. The priest
before mentioned accompanied me to the apartment. The
guard and my attendants were dismissed, and we carried on
a conversation on the affairs of Europe with much less re-
serve than in my first interview.
I was pressed to remain at Deir-el-Kamr as long as I
chose; and was invited to return to Mount Libanon, where I
might be certain of protection and hospitality.
The physiognomy of the emir was good; he was about
fifty years of age, rendered older in appearance by a long
beard. He was dressed in a rich vest of blue cloth, trimmed
with ermine. The shawls he wore round his head and waist,