l for great profit at Moccha, and thence I will
make the pilgrimage to the tomb of the Prophet. From Moccha I will
transport coffee to Persia, which will fetch an amazing price; and then
I will repose in my native city, until I can purchase a high situation
at court, which may in time lead me to become the grand vizier to the
King of Kings.

Having thus disposed of the future in my favour, I set myself actively
to work in laying in my merchandise. According to the most approved
method, I made a bargain with a wood-cutter, who was to proceed to the
mountains of Lour and Bakhtiari, where he would find forests of the wild
cherry-tree, from which he would make his selections, according to the
sizes with which I should furnish him. He was then to return to Bagdad,
where the sticks would be bored, and made up into appropriate parcels
for the markets of Turkey.

All this was duly executed; but during the time that I was waiting for
the return of the wood-cutter, I was attacked by a disorder, from
which few residents, as well as strangers at Bagdad are exempt, which
terminating by a large pimple, as it dries up, leaves an indelible mark
on the skin. To my great mortification, it broke out upon the middle of
my right cheek, immediately upon the confines of the beard, and there
left its baleful print, destroying some of the most favourite of my
hairs, and making that appear a broken and irregular waste, which before
might be likened to a highly cultivated slope.

I bore this calamity as well as I was able, although I could not help
frequently quarrelling with fate, for having chosen so conspicuous
a spot to place that which might have been so conveniently settled
anywhere else.

'So be it,' said I, heaving a sigh at the same time; 'the wise man said
true when he remarked, "if every stone was left to choose what it would
be, most probably it would be a diamond;" and if every man might choose
whereabouts he would have his pimple, there would be no ugly faces in
Bagdad.'

However, by way of consolation, I recollected the Osman Aga's face was
the mirror of deformity, although his pimple had budded elsewhere. He,
instead of condoling with me on my misfortune, rather seemed to enjoy
it.

'Hajji,' said he to me, 'if you are not afflicted with any greater
calamity than this in life, look upon it as a blessing: although one
side of your face be deformed, still the other is perfect. The turquoise
is the perfection of colour on one