24 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



of which, has already cost us so many valuable lives. 

 You are all men who have been enriched by my pre- 

 decessors and by myself; you have palaces at Cairo; 

 you have families and every comfort ; there is not 

 one of you who would have been foolish enough 

 to ask me to leave him here as governor of a country 

 which has been ruined. Well, the only one who has 

 aspired to this post is a Christian, Arakel Bey; he 

 really wants a straight waistcoat.' Then one of his 

 ministers, Hassan Pasha, acting as buffoon of the Court, 

 seized Arakel and went through the pretence of tying 

 him up to the pole of the tent. "When this scene was 

 at an end the Viceroy made a sign and every one 

 withdrew, leaving us alone. 



"'Well,' he said, speaking in excellent French, 

 * le tour estjoue' (the trick is played). If I had been 

 compelled to appoint a personage in my train to act as 

 deputy for me in this important Government, with all 

 the external signs of my authority, my own tent, my 

 horses, my carriages, my palace, and all my absolute 

 powers, at a distance of six hundred leagues from my 

 capital, it would have been impossible for me to fulfil 

 my promise, on account of Arakel's religion, as there 

 is no precedent in the whole Ottoman Empire of a 

 Christian having occupied a like position. Now you 

 can go and tell Arakel that his request is granted, and 

 that he can come and see me.' 



" January 19. I go to see M. Heuglein, whose 

 geographical information about the interior of Africa is 



