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native, more forward than the rest, will venture to com- 
pliment him upon the success of his search, and assure 
him that the excellent knowledge of the English leads 
them to the immediate discovery of treasure without 
the necessity of implements, whereas an ignorant man 
of the country would have toiled all day with his 
tools, and have thought himself fortunate to have found 
even a single small coin or trinket. A black man can- 
not possibly comprehend what other object than gain 
can allure the wanderer to explore those scenes of 
desolation ; if you speak of a curiosity, he understands 
a piece of ancient money which may be converted 
into current coin, or a jewelled relic which may be 
bartered or melted down to serve the same purpose. It 
will be found impossible to convince him that history 
or antiquarian research have anything to do with the 
pursuit, and he is somewhat inclined to regard it as 
an act of poaching, an infringement of his legal right, 
to search for treasure among the ruins of his own city . 
This may be easily believed, when it is understood, 
that in every ancient Mussulman city, when the ruins 
are extensive, there are generally some hundreds of 
treasure-hunters who make this calling their regular, 
or rather I should say irregular, means of subsistence. 
In former times of revolution and rapine, it was the 
invariable custom of all the wealthy to conceal their 
riches in some private recess about their mansions; and, 
to this day, many are the families who are suddenly 
raised from abject poverty to comparative luxury, 
