astonished.  “I cannot understand,” he said, “why wine is allowed by all religions, when its use deprives man of his reason.”—­“All religions,” I answered, “forbid excess in drinking wine, and the crime is only in the abuse.”  I proved him the truth of what I had said by telling him that opium produced the same results as wine, but more powerfully, and consequently Mahomet ought to have forbidden the use of it.  He observed that he had never taken either wine or opium in the course of his life.

After dinner, pipes were brought in and we filled them ourselves.  I was smoking with pleasure, but, at the same time, was expectorating.  Yusuf, who smoked like a Turk, that is to say, without spitting, said,—­

“The tobacco you are now smoking is of a very fine quality, and you ought to swallow its balsam which is mixed with the saliva.”

“I suppose you are right; smoking cannot be truly enjoyed without the best tobacco.”

“That is true to a certain extent, but the enjoyment found in smoking good tobacco is not the principal pleasure, because it only pleases our senses; true enjoyment is that which works upon the soul, and is completely independent of the senses.”

“I cannot realize pleasures enjoyed by the soul without the instrumentality of the senses.”

“Listen to me.  When you fill your pipe do you feel any pleasure?”

“Yes.”

“Whence does that pleasure arise, if it is not from your soul?  Let us go further.  Do you not feel pleased when you give up your pipe after having smoked all the tobacco in it—­when you see that nothing is left but some ashes?”

“It is true.”

“Well, there are two pleasures in which your senses have certainly nothing to do, but I want you to guess the third, and the most essential.”

“The most essential?  It is the perfume.”

“No; that is a pleasure of the organ of smelling—­a sensual pleasure.”

“Then I do not know.”

“Listen.  The principal pleasure derived from tobacco smoking is the sight of a smoke itself.  You must never see it go out of the bowl of your pipe,—­but only from the corner o your mouth, at regular intervals which must not be too frequent.  It is so truly the greatest pleasure connected with the pipe, that you cannot find anywhere a blind man who smokes.  Try yourself the experiment of smoking a pipe in your room, at night and without a light; you will soon lay the pipe down.”

“It is all perfectly true; yet you must forgive me if I give the preference to several pleasures, in which my senses are interested, over those which afford enjoyment only to my soul.”

“Forty years ago I was of the same opinion, and in forty years, if you succeed in acquiring wisdom, you will think like me.  Pleasures which give activity to our senses, my dear son, disturb the repose of our soul—­a proof that they do not deserve the name of real enjoyments.”