DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0185
VENERABLE WITNESSES. 169
arrival at Beyroot would represent the matter, to
the Austrian consul there; and I thought that
with such evidence the consul would not refuse
him another passport. He thanked me very
warmly, and the next morning early, while I was
waiting, all ready for my departure, he brought
in his witnesses. It would have been difficult for
the old man to produce deponents who could
swear positively to his nativity ; but of those whom
he brought, any one could look back farther than
it is usually allowed to man. They were all over:
sixty, and their long white beards gave them a
venerable appearance, which made me attach
more importance to the proceedings than I in-
tended. These hoary-headed men, I thought,
could not speak with lying lips; and, taking my
place in the middle of the floor, the witnesses
seated themselves before me, and I prepared, with
business-like formality, to examine them and re-
duce their examination to writing. Since I left
home I had rarely thought of any thing connected:
with my professional pursuits, and I could but
smile as I found myself seated in the middle of a
floor, surrounded by a crowd of .Israelites in the
old city of Hebron, for the first time in more than,
eighteen months resuming the path of my daily
walks at home. I placed the scribe before me,
and with a little of the keenness of the hunter re-
turning to a track for some time lost, I examined
the witnesses severally, and dictated in good set.
form the several requisite affidavits;, and theiJi
2? 2,
arrival at Beyroot would represent the matter, to
the Austrian consul there; and I thought that
with such evidence the consul would not refuse
him another passport. He thanked me very
warmly, and the next morning early, while I was
waiting, all ready for my departure, he brought
in his witnesses. It would have been difficult for
the old man to produce deponents who could
swear positively to his nativity ; but of those whom
he brought, any one could look back farther than
it is usually allowed to man. They were all over:
sixty, and their long white beards gave them a
venerable appearance, which made me attach
more importance to the proceedings than I in-
tended. These hoary-headed men, I thought,
could not speak with lying lips; and, taking my
place in the middle of the floor, the witnesses
seated themselves before me, and I prepared, with
business-like formality, to examine them and re-
duce their examination to writing. Since I left
home I had rarely thought of any thing connected:
with my professional pursuits, and I could but
smile as I found myself seated in the middle of a
floor, surrounded by a crowd of .Israelites in the
old city of Hebron, for the first time in more than,
eighteen months resuming the path of my daily
walks at home. I placed the scribe before me,
and with a little of the keenness of the hunter re-
turning to a track for some time lost, I examined
the witnesses severally, and dictated in good set.
form the several requisite affidavits;, and theiJi
2? 2,