DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11638#0159
144 TRAVELS IN UPPER
gage should likewise be landed. It was in vairi
for me to oppose with all my might this seizure 5
the sturdy Mamcluc, who was surrounded by seve-
ral soldiers, would listen to nothing. The boat, he
said, was for the service of the Kiaschef, and no
person ought to dare to divert it from its desti-
nation. I displayed to him the letters of the Beys;
he replied, that lie laughed at all the Beys who
commanded at Cairo whilst he was master at Sahet.
Not having it in my power to resist the violence
of this man, who, like all those to whom power is
ill adapted, believed himself a great personage, I
ordered my camels to be brought to re-convey my
baggage to Farschout. During the time that they
were occupied in loading them, the Mameluc
called my interpreter, and desired him to propose
to me that I should give him a chequin, and that
for this consideration he would leave me the boat.
I ordered him to be told that I would not even
give him a mcdina. He reduced his demand to
a pataca, the half of which I likewise refused to
give; at last he begged me as a favour to make
him a present of a quarter of a pataca, about four-
teen pence. In order to avoid any longer delays,
I paid it to him, and the vile slave received it as
the price of an imposition practised upon me, and
which he had calculated according to the import-
ance of his government.
A great
gage should likewise be landed. It was in vairi
for me to oppose with all my might this seizure 5
the sturdy Mamcluc, who was surrounded by seve-
ral soldiers, would listen to nothing. The boat, he
said, was for the service of the Kiaschef, and no
person ought to dare to divert it from its desti-
nation. I displayed to him the letters of the Beys;
he replied, that lie laughed at all the Beys who
commanded at Cairo whilst he was master at Sahet.
Not having it in my power to resist the violence
of this man, who, like all those to whom power is
ill adapted, believed himself a great personage, I
ordered my camels to be brought to re-convey my
baggage to Farschout. During the time that they
were occupied in loading them, the Mameluc
called my interpreter, and desired him to propose
to me that I should give him a chequin, and that
for this consideration he would leave me the boat.
I ordered him to be told that I would not even
give him a mcdina. He reduced his demand to
a pataca, the half of which I likewise refused to
give; at last he begged me as a favour to make
him a present of a quarter of a pataca, about four-
teen pence. In order to avoid any longer delays,
I paid it to him, and the vile slave received it as
the price of an imposition practised upon me, and
which he had calculated according to the import-
ance of his government.
A great