140 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
old Turk stands on two, and the purchase can’t he made for 
the sixteenth part of a little finger less. Off you start again, 
and this time you don’t turn to look hack. “Hallo! come 
back here!” shouts the old man, as plainly as possible in 
Turkish; and now he goes through an imaginary process of 
cutting his fore-finger in two. No, sir, you exclaim; not the 
first knuckle of a fore-finger more ! The half of the fore-finger 
is resigned at last! the article is yours ; and with a proud con¬ 
sciousness of shrewdness and self-dependence, you pocket it, 
and set out for Pera. Experience aids you greatly this time 
in wending your way through the narrow streets ; a few knocks 
on the head and the loss of a little hark from the knee are 
trifles not to be thought of. By patience, perseverance, and the 
sweet oil of a good temper, you at length reach the Hotel de 
Byzant. Breakfast has just commenced, the purchase is duly 
exhibited, and extravagantly admired by the ladies; the price 
is miraculously low ; it must have required extraordinary 
jewing to get it so cheap. It is passed round for the final 
judgment of a grave gentleman who understands these things 
thoroughly. Heavens ! what a grim smile of pity and con¬ 
tempt ; your beautiful specimen of Turkish skill is worth j ust 
ten piasters, and has been manufactured in Paris, where such 
things can be bought for little or nothing! 
