63 
I received an order in the afternoon to hold myself 
in readiness to present myself to the Sultan Scherif. 
The Nekib el Ascharaf, or chief of the Scherifs, 
came to conduct me to the palace. He entered, but I 
waited at the door for the order to go in. A moment 
after, the chief of the well, who was already my friend, 
came to meet me. We ascended the staircase in the 
middle of which was a door that stopped our passage. 
My guide knocked at it, when two armed servants 
opened it. We continued to ascend; we traversed a 
dark gallery; and, after having left our sandals in this 
place, we entered into a fine saloon, in which was the 
Sultan Scherif (named Scherif Ghaleb), seated near a 
window, surrounded by six persons who were stand- 
ing. 
After I had saluted him, he asked me the following 
questions: 
Do you speak Arabic?* 
Yes, sire. 
And Turkish? 
No, sire. 
Arabic only? 
Yes, sire. 
Do you speak any Christian languages? 
Some. 
Of what country are you? 
Haleb, or Alep. 
Did you leave it when young? 
Yes, sire. 
Where have you been since? 
I related my history to him. The Scherif then said to 
him who was on his left, " He speaks Arabic very 
* The Scherif thought that I was a Turk. 
