o Allahdad's good nursing, and in part to the bland and
health-giving breezes of the ocean, he gradually regained his former
health, strength, and vitality. At the time he regarded these seven
years spent in Sind as simply seven years wasted, and certainly his
rewards were incommensurate with his exertions. Still, it was in Sind
that the future became written on his forehead; in Sind that he began to
collect that mass of amazing material which made possible his edition of
The Arabian Nights.

Chapter V. 1849 to 3rd April, 1853, Chiefly Boulogne

Bibliography:

5. Goa and the Blue Mountains, 1851. 6. Scinde; or the Unhappy Valley,
2 vols., 1851. 7. Sindh, and the Races that Inhabit the Valley of
the Indus, 1851. 8. Falconry in the Valley of the Indus, 1852. 9.
Commencement with Dr. Steinhauser of The Arabian Nights, 1852. 10. A
complete System of Bayonet Exercise, 1853.

19. A Motto from Ariosto.

When "The Elisa" approached Plymouth, with its "turfy hills, wooded
parks and pretty seats," Allahdad opened his eyes in wonderment. "What
manner of men must you English be," he said, "to leave such a paradise
and travel to such a pandemonium as ours without compulsion?" On
arriving in London, Burton called on his Aunt Georgiana, [91] flirted
with his pretty cousins Sarah and Elisa, attended to business of various
kinds, and then, in company with Allahdad, set out for Italy to see his
father and mother, who were still wandering aimlessly about Europe, and
inhaling now the breath of vineyard and garden and now the odours of
the laboratory. He found them, his sister, and her two little daughters,
Georgiana and Maria (Minnie) at Pisa, and the meeting was a very
happy one. Burton's deep affection for his parents, his sister and his
brother, is forced upon our notice at every turn; and later he came to
regard his nieces just as tenderly. Quoting Coleridge, he used to say:

"To be beloved is all I need,
And whom I love I love indeed." [92]

If Burton was thus drawn to those nearest of kin to him, so also his
warm heart welled with affection for his friends, and for those who
did him kindnesses. "If you value a man or his work," he said, "don't
conceal your feelings." The warmth of his affection for his friends
Drake, Arbuthnot, and others, will be noticed as this book proceeds. On
one occasion, after a spontaneous outburst of appreciation, he said
in palliation of his enthusiasm, "Pardon me, but thi