n
rayahs, who were expected to be examined; and a stranger would have
thought that a sudden pestilence had entered the city, from the
thousands upon thousands who poured out from it, hastening to the river
side, to behold the ceremony. But to the astonishment of the people,
almost all the rayahs, as soon as they were mounted, left the city in an
opposite direction, some declaring, that they were most surely without
_scar or blemish_, but still they could not consent to expose their
persons to the gaze of so many thousands; others declared, that they
left on account of _scars and honourable wounds_ received in battle, and
until that afternoon, the Souffrarians were not aware of how much
modesty and how much courage they had to boast in their favoured land;
and many regretted, as they viewed the interminable line of gallant
young men depart, that the will of the late king should have made scars
received in battle to be a bar to advancement; but they were checked by
the Brahmins, who told them that there was a holy and hidden mystery
contained in the injunction of the old king's will.

* * * * *

"By the beard of the prophet, it takes a long time to get a husband for
this princess of yours, Menouni," observed the pacha with a yawn.

"Your sublime highness will not be surprised at it, when you consider
the conditions of the old king's will."

* * * * *

The examination was most strict, and even a small cut was sufficient to
render a young man ineligible; a corn was considered as a blemish--and a
young man even having been bled by a leech to save his life, lost him
all chance of the princess.

* * * * *

"Pray may I ask, if a barber had cut the skin in shaving their heads,
was that considered as a scar?"

"Most decidedly, your highness."

"Then those fakirs and mollahs, with their spectacles, and the Brahmins,
were a parcel of fools. Were they not, Mustapha?"

"Your highness's wisdom is like the overflowing of the honey pot,"
replied Mustapha.

"Your know, Mustapha, as well as I do, that it is almost impossible not
to draw blood, if there happens to be a pimple, or a bad razor; but,
however, proceed, Menouni, and if possible marry this beautiful
princess."

* * * * *

About two hours before sunset the beautiful Babe-bi-bobu, "the
cream-tart of delight," more splendidly dressed than befo