MAHOMEDAN VISITORS. 95 



His temper, however, was provokingiy good, for 

 besides its being a great contrast to my own, I half 

 suspected under such a bland exterior some deceit 

 must lurk, but he was a lesson in human nature, 

 and patient ugliness will for the future be a recom- 

 mendation to me. When illness and pain had 

 contrived to make me the most fretful and irritable 

 of mortals, how often have I been reproved, for 

 my unreasonable upbraidings and continually finding 

 fault, by his constantly mild reply, " Anter gaitah" 

 " Anter gaitah " (" You are my master," " You are 

 my master".) 



I was not unfrequently visited by venerable sheiks 

 and learned mollums, who, with the usual Mahome- 

 dan assumption of superiority, squatted down upon 

 the boxes uninvited, and considered themselves at 

 liberty to beg, borrow, or steal, as opportunities 

 afforded, without any remonstrance from the 

 Feringhee they affected to patronize. 



Although at this time the town of Aliu Amba 

 had a Christian governor, more than three-fourths 

 of its inhabitants were Mahomedans. These were 

 exceedingly cautious in the expression of any dis- 

 like towards the religion of their rulers, but their 

 prejudice against the Christian faith only rankled 

 the more in their bosoms. It showed itself chiefly 

 in petty acts of contempt or slight that could not 

 well be complained of without betraying some little- 

 ness of spirit. Many of my visitors, for example, 

 when they saw the body of a slaughtered sheep 



