George Walker At Suez | Page 9

an iron pot and a tray. Such was the case, and these
two followers came forward to perform their services, while I, having
been literally pressed down on to the sofa by Mahmoud, watched them
in their progress. Mahmoud also sat down, and not a word was spoken
while the ceremony went on. The man with the sticks first placed on
the ground two little pans--one at my feet, and then one at the feet of
his master. After that he loosed an ornamented bag which he carried
round his neck, and producing from it tobacco, proceeded to fill two
pipes. This he did with the utmost gravity, and apparently with very
peculiar care. The pipes had been already fixed at one end of the stick,
and to the other end the man had fastened two large yellow balls. These,
as I afterwards perceived, were mouth-pieces made of amber. Then he
lit the pipes, drawing up the difficult smoke by long painful suckings at
the mouthpiece, and then, when the work had become apparently easy,
he handed one pipe to me, and the other to his master. The bowls he
had first placed in the little pans on the ground.
During all this time no word was spoken, and I was left altogether in
the dark as to the cause which had produced this extraordinary courtesy.
There was a stationary sofa--they called it there a divan--which was

fixed into the corner of the room, and on one side of the angle sat
Mahmoud al Ackbar, with his feet tucked under him, while I sat on the
other. The remainder of the party stood around, and I felt so little
master of the occasion, that I did not know whether it would become
me to bid them be seated. I was not master of the entertainment. They
were not my pipes. Nor was it my coffee, which I saw one of the
followers preparing in a distant part of the room. And, indeed, I was
much confused as to the management of the stick and amber
mouth-piece with which I had been presented. With a cigar I am as
much at home as any man in the City. I can nibble off the end of it, and
smoke it to the last ash, when I am three parts asleep. But I had never
before been invited to regale myself with such an instrument as this.
What was I to do with that huge yellow ball? So I watched my new
friend closely.
It had manifestly been a part of his urbanity not to commence till I had
done so, but seeing my difficulty he at last raised the ball to his mouth
and sucked at it. I looked at him and envied the gravity of his
countenance, and the dignity of his demeanour. I sucked also, but I
made a sputtering noise, and must confess that I did not enjoy it. The
smoke curled gracefully from his mouth and nostrils as he sat there in
mute composure. I was mute as regarded speech, but I coughed as the
smoke came from me in convulsive puffs. And then the attendant
brought us coffee in little tin cups--black coffee, without sugar and full
of grit, of which the berries had been only bruised, not ground. I took
the cup and swallowed the mixture, for I could not refuse, but I wish
that I might have asked for some milk and sugar. Nevertheless there
was something very pleasing in the whole ceremony, and at last I began
to find myself more at home with my pipe.
When Mahmoud had exhausted his tobacco, and perceived that I also
had ceased to puff forth smoke, he spoke in Italian to the interpreter,
and the interpreter forthwith proceeded to explain to me the purport of
this visit. This was done with much difficulty, for the interpreter's stock
of English was very scanty--but after awhile I understood, or thought I
understood, as follows:- At some previous period of my existence I had
done some deed which had given infinite satisfaction to Mahmoud al
Ackbar. Whether, however, I had done it myself, or whether my father
had done it, was not quite clear to me. My father, then some time

deceased, had been a wharfinger at Liverpool, and it was quite possible
that Mahmoud might have found himself at that port. Mahmoud had
heard of my arrival in Egypt, and had been given to understand that I
was coming to Suez--to carry myself away in the ship, as the interpreter
phrased it. This I could not understand, but I let it pass. Having heard
these agreeable tidings--and Mahmoud, sitting in the corner, bowed
low to me as this was said--he had prepared for my acceptance a slight
refection for the morrow,