st's
principal room, where he also spread his bed and slept.

By way of celebrating my arrival, he treated me with roasted lamb, and
an abundant dish of rice, to which were added dates, cheese, and onions.
The dishes were cooked in the harem, by the hands of his wife
and daughter, aided by a female slave, the only domestic in the
establishment. Neither of these had I yet seen, for it was dusk when
we reached the house; nor, from good manners, did I ask more about them
than Osman was inclined to tell me.

Besides myself and his son, the old man had invited a brother dealer in
lambskins to the entertainment, with whom he had formed a close intimacy
during his travels in Bokhara. The conversation turned exclusively upon
commerce, about which I was so ignorant, that I took very little share
in it, although, considering that it was my intention to enter it
myself, I was very happy to open my ears to all that was said.

They entered deeply into the subject and discussed the relative merits
or each article of trade. To hear them talk, one might have inferred
that the end of the world was at hand, because it was rumoured that the
price of their favourite commodity had fallen at Constantinople. They
dissuaded me from embarking my capital in that article, but recommended
in preference that I should invest it in pipe-sticks, which, they
remarked, were subject to no decay, and for which there was a constant
demand in the market of Constantinople.

The entertainment being over, and the guests having parted, I ruminated
deeply upon what I had heard, and forthwith turned the whole weight
of my thoughts to pipe-sticks. There, in a corner, I sat all day
calculating what number of pipes I might acquire for my tomauns,
and what would be my profit when sold at Constantinople; and when my
imagination was heated by the hopes of the ultimate fortune that might
be realized, I gave myself up to the most extravagant expectations. The
plan of the merchant, whom Saadi relates he met in the island of Kish,
was trifling when compared to the one which I formed. 'With the produce
of my pipe-sticks,' said I, 'I will buy figs at Smyrna, which I will
take to Europe, and having made great profit by them there, my money
shall then he invested in skull-caps, which I will carry to Grand Cairo;
these being sold in detail, for ready cash, I will carefully pack my
money in sacks, and proceed to Ethiopia, where I will purchase slaves,
each of whom I will sel