36 ([return])
[ I feel myself, however, bound in conscience to tell the whole truth of this affair. In perambulating about the town, in the course of the day, which was very hot, I got affected by a coup de soleil, which gave me a violent fever and head-ache. I have strong suspicions that this circumstance acted as a powerful "preventer stay" to my virtue, and enabled me to put the devil to flight on this trying occasion. The mother of these damsels appeared to be edified by the discourse I made to her upon the subject of her proposal, but the young women plainly told me, that I was "rajil batal," i.e. a man good for nothing. If they could have understood Latin, I should have told them,
"Quodcunque ostendes mihi sic-k Invalidus odi.">[
37 ([return])
[ The ordinary price of a virgin wife in Berber, is a horse, which the bridegroom is obliged to present to the father of the girl he demands in marriage. I remember asking a young peasant, of whom I bought some provisions one day in Berber, "why he did not marry?" He pointed to a colt in the yard, and told me that "when the colt became big enough, he should take a wife.">[
38 ([return])
[ This learned soldier somewhat surprised me, on my demanding "why he did not give the title of Caliph to the Padischah?" by answering that there had been no Caliph since Ali, and that the Padischah was only "Emir el Moumenim," i.e. "commander of the true believers.">[
39 ([return])
[ This word is Hebrew, and signifies "a lamb.">[