THE CHRISTIAN MERCHANT'S STORY. — 185

honour of waiting upon you.’ The lady consented to this plan.
‘On Thursday next, said she, ‘which is the day after to-mor-
row, come directly after mid-day prayers into the street called
Devotion Street. You have only to inquire for the house of Abon
Schamma, surnamed Bercour, and formerly chief of the emirs:
at that place you will find me’ Having said this, we separated.

“When Thursday came, I dressed myself in the handsomest
robe I had. I puta purse, containing fifty pieces of gold, into
my pocket, and I set out mounted upon an ass, which I had
ordered the day before, and accompanied by the man of whom
I had hired it. When we were come into Devotion Street, I
desired the owner of the ass to inquire whereabout the house
which I was seeking after was; some person immediately pointed
it out. I alighted at the door, rewarded the man very liberally,
and dismissed him.

“I knocked at the door, when two little slaves, as white as
snow, very neatly dressed, immediately came and opened it.
‘Come in, sir, if you please,’ they said, ‘our mistress has been
waiting for you.’ I went into a court, and. observed a pavilion,
surrounded with some trellis-work, which divided it from a
very beautiful garden, Besides some trees, which served at
the same time both for embellishment and shelter from the
rays of the sun, there was an infinite number of others, which
were loaded with all kinds of fruit. I was charmed with the
warbling of a great many birds, which mingled their notes with
the murmurs of a fountain, that threw its water to a vast
height, in the midst of a parterre, enamelled with flowers.
This place was so full of beauties that it gave me a very high
idea of the conquest I had made. The two little slaves desired
me to go into a saloon, that was magnificently furnished ; and
while one of them went to inform her mistress of my arrival,
the other remained with me, and pointed out all the beauties
of the saloon.

“J had not been long in this place, before the lady made her
appearance, adorned with the finest diamonds and pearls, but
she appeared still more brilliant from the lustre of her eyes
than from that of her jewels. Her figure, which was now no
longer concealed by her walking-dress, as when I met her in
the city, seemed to me to be the finest and most striking in the
whole world. After the first compliments were over, we both sat