DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5828#0203
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE.
171
acquiring wealth, but in those lands more favoured
of Heaven, where industry may elevate a man almost
to the level of kings, the poorest peasant has the
power of rising from the trammels of a severe con-
dition to the brightest honours, or, at all events, to
the highest privileges which wealth confers upon
those who are fortunate enough to render themselves
masters of its mighty resources.
The governor of Chandahar pursued his solitary
ramble in order to shake off the stupifving effects of
the previous night's debauch, as scarcely an evening
passed in which he did not render himself insensible,
not only to the precepts of the Koran, but to all
other laws either human or divine ; for the wines of
Shiraz, when liberally taken, have a tendency, not
merely to rob a man of his discretion, but likewise
so to offuscate his intellectual faculties, as to render
the luxurious Sybarite, who indulges in such luscious
potations, utterly unconscious of what Mahomet has
laid down as laws of life, or the wisest philosophers
have taught as maxims of wisdom.
As Abdallah approached the village before spoken
of, situated on the bank of a deep stream that issued
from the distant hills, he saw a group of women
repairing to the well for their daily supply of water,
which, throughout India, is always procured the first
thing in the morning, before the refreshing element
IS heated by the ardent rays of a tropical sun. The
well which he now approached was of great depth,
being cased with polished stone, and sunk at least two
hundred feet below the surface. After an ascent of two
wide steps, there was a low parapet raised round the
171
acquiring wealth, but in those lands more favoured
of Heaven, where industry may elevate a man almost
to the level of kings, the poorest peasant has the
power of rising from the trammels of a severe con-
dition to the brightest honours, or, at all events, to
the highest privileges which wealth confers upon
those who are fortunate enough to render themselves
masters of its mighty resources.
The governor of Chandahar pursued his solitary
ramble in order to shake off the stupifving effects of
the previous night's debauch, as scarcely an evening
passed in which he did not render himself insensible,
not only to the precepts of the Koran, but to all
other laws either human or divine ; for the wines of
Shiraz, when liberally taken, have a tendency, not
merely to rob a man of his discretion, but likewise
so to offuscate his intellectual faculties, as to render
the luxurious Sybarite, who indulges in such luscious
potations, utterly unconscious of what Mahomet has
laid down as laws of life, or the wisest philosophers
have taught as maxims of wisdom.
As Abdallah approached the village before spoken
of, situated on the bank of a deep stream that issued
from the distant hills, he saw a group of women
repairing to the well for their daily supply of water,
which, throughout India, is always procured the first
thing in the morning, before the refreshing element
IS heated by the ardent rays of a tropical sun. The
well which he now approached was of great depth,
being cased with polished stone, and sunk at least two
hundred feet below the surface. After an ascent of two
wide steps, there was a low parapet raised round the