606 Hajji Babd in England. PUNK, 



would burn the" fathers of the Russians!' * Inshallah! please God !' was 

 repeated all round ; and we lived in the hope that our ambassador, once esta- 

 blished in England, it would not be difficult to learn how to build ships; 

 seeing that the Turks, a nation acknowledged by all mankind to be the assses 

 of the human race, made them; and recollecting that the Persians were 

 endowed with more ingenuity and ability than all the rest of the world toge- 

 ther. 



" The captain then brought his naibs, or lieutenants and officers, intro- 

 ducing them to the ambassador, and, among the number, he specially pre- 

 sented a doctor, who was enjoined to take care of our health. He, moreover, 

 led a Frank priest before us, who was the only living sign we had yet seen 

 of religion amongst infidels for never had we seen one of them even stand 

 still and pray. 



" One of the men was a son of the road, as the wandering Arabs say, a tra- 

 veller. He was evidently a person of experience; for his hair was white, 

 which he might have kept from the gaze of the world had he always worn a 

 turban or head-dress, according to our Eastern fashion. The account which 

 he gave of himself was to us incomprehensible ; for it seems he was travelling 

 about the world, at his own expense, for a Frank king, to collect birds, beasts, 

 and fishes, which, as fast as he caught, he stuffed. The moment he perceived us, 

 he eyed us from head to foot, as if he were inspecting horses or camels; and 

 his curiosity was afterwards explained by the knowledge we acquired of his 

 pursuits ; it was evident that, looking upon us as foreign animals, he longed 

 to kill and to stuff us. 



The powder in the captain's hair excites infinite admiration among the 

 Persians ; who consider it to be a " white dust which he has poured 

 upon his head in token of humility," and compliment to their arrival. 

 The knives and forks at dinner, too, with the veto upon any gentleman's 

 putting his hand into the dish to help another, lead to still greater per- 

 plexity. The most admirable affair of all, however, seems to the 

 Orientals to be, the seeing the " idle young men on board the ship " the 

 midshipmen] appear all at noon, each with an " astrolabe " a quadrant] 

 in his hands ! To see boys handling this instrument of wisdom, and 

 apparently with a purpose to ascertain if the heavens are propitious to 

 the voyage, excites an inexpressible wonder on the part of the ambassador ! 

 and having contemplated the exhibition of a little rhubarb on that day, 

 he sends a message, to know from the Frank soothsayers, whether the 

 time is propitious for taking physic. In the mean time the whole party 

 apply themselves diligently to the study of all European peculiarities, 

 and especially of the English language ; and, after the chief ambassador 

 has nearly cut off one finger in learning to use the knife at dinner, and 

 Hajji Baba nearly committed a greater mischance, by running his fork 

 into his eye ; with no farther calamities than these, the ship reaches the 

 English coast in safety, and the embassy is disembarked at Ply- 

 mouth : 



" Our sensations upon rowing to the shore were such as we conceived the 

 body of the true believer might feel when seeking for his soul finds it, and sits 

 down to all eternity near a river of milk in the seventh heaven. Although 

 very thing we saw, we were convinced, was impure, and denied by the pre- 

 sence of mortals doomed to eternal fires, still how did our hearts open when we 

 gazed upon green fields, fresh flowers, and running water! 



" But what was our astonishment, when we alighted at the door of a house, 

 at the gate of which stood several denominations of Franks, without their hats, 

 and two or three women unveiled, all ready to receive us, and who, placing 

 themselves in a sort of procession, preceded the ambassador until they reached 

 a room fitted up with looking-glasses, and surrounded by many contrivances, 



