Thus was another day truly orientally lost.  On the morrow, however, I obtained permission, in the character of Dr. Abdullah, to visit any part of Egypt I pleased, and to retain possession of my dagger and pistols.

And now I must explain what induced me to take so much trouble about a passport.  The home reader naturally inquires, Why not travel under your English name?

For this reason.  In the generality of barbarous countries you must either proceed, like Bruce, preserving the “dignity of manhood,” and carrying matters with a high hand, or you must worm your way by timidity and

[p.23]subservience; in fact, by becoming an animal too contemptible for man to let or injure.  But to pass through the Moslem’s Holy Land, you must either be a born believer, or have become one; in the former case you may demean yourself as you please, in the latter a path is ready prepared for you.  My spirit could not bend to own myself a Burma,[FN#9] a renegade-to be pointed at and shunned and catechised, an object of suspicion to the many and of contempt to all.  Moreover, it would have obstructed the aim of my wanderings.  The convert is always watched with Argus eyes, and men do not willingly give information to a “new Moslem,” especially a Frank:  they suspect his conversion to be feigned or forced, look upon him as a spy, and let him see as little of life as possible.  Firmly as was my heart set upon travelling in Arabia, by Heaven!  I would have given up the dear project rather than purchase a doubtful and partial success at such a price.  Consequently, I had no choice but to appear as a born believer, and part of my birthright in that respectable character was toil and trouble in obtaining a Tazkirah.[FN#10]

Then I had to provide myself with certain necessaries for the way.  These were not numerous.  The silver-mounted dressing-bag is here supplied by a rag containing a Miswak[FN#11] or tooth-stick, a bit of soap and a comb, wooden, for bone and tortoiseshell are not, religiously speaking, correct.  Equally simple was my wardrobe; [p.24]a change or two of clothing.  It is a great mistake to carry too few clothes, and those who travel as Orientals should always have at least one very grand suit for use on critical occasions.  Throughout the East a badly dressed man is a pauper, and, as in England, a pauper-unless he belongs to an order having a right to be poor-is a scoundrel.  The only article of canteen description was a Zemzemiyah, a goat-skin water-bag, which, especially when new, communicates to its contents a ferruginous aspect and a wholesome, though hardly an attractive, flavour of tanno-gelatine.  This was a necessary; to drink out of a tumbler, possibly fresh from pig-eating lips, would have entailed a certain loss of reputation.  For bedding and furniture I had a coarse Persian rug-which, besides being couch, acted as chair, table, and oratory-a cotton-stuffed chintz-covered pillow, a blanket in case of cold, and a sheet, which did duty for tent