The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-06-08


 in the black liquid, and that an incan- tation was only necessary for the fu- ture to take shape, and, rising out of the pot, become visible to us all in this mysterious darkness.
 Again the coffee boiled up. Again the man emptied the boiling liquid back into the other pot, and replaced it on tbefire.
 The stiffness and the concentration became more intense. Outside a lambs sudden cry and the mothers answering bleat rang out sharply in the black night, distant reminder of a far off world; it died away, and the broken silence was all the more in tense.
 ''The coffee boiled up.
 By this time one had ceased to asso- coate the drinking of coffee with the end of these mysterious rites. The cof- fee of Cooks hotels, the coffee of crowded railway stations, whole coffee ground coffee, French coffee, coffee at one shilling eightpence pound; the chatter of black saucepans, the hot and anxious cook, the bustling waiter, the impatient people of the world with only a minute to wait, calling for instanta- neous coffee-what had coffee and all these associations to do with tliis2 And so it was with a certain shock that we looked at this magician pour ing the result of his black art into the cups, a few carefully measured drops only. Two were handed to us and one to the sheik. We slipped the oily black drink slowly and thoughtfully. A li- quid which had been prepared with so much deliberation could not be quaffed down with the reckless indifference or dinarily displayed in the rocess. It was thick and bitter; We drained the last drop and returned the cups. Am other spoonful was poured in, and they were passed back to us. Etiquette re- quired that we should not refuse till the third time of offering; then the re- mainder of the coffee was handed round to the rest of fthe company in order of rank. @ *~.,r..
 ''There was a stir among the crowd round the door, and a woman forced her way through with baby in her arms. She squatted in front of us, and held the child down for our closer inspection by the firelight.
 'Khasta' GID, said the Turkish sol- l dier; she wants medicine
 ' 1.-The mother pointed to the sores on the ehild's face and body; the pleading eloquence in her dark eyes rendering unnecessary any explanations on the part off our Interpreter.
 Tt was a pathetic instance of the suffering induced by man, even when living so akin to nature, when he tries to superimpose his own crude ideas of beauty and expectancy on to the hu- man frame The baby, though only a few months old, had been pierced in the nose and ears for the reception of the ornaments which were to enhance its charms in after life and of the blue bead which wolud ensure it's safe ty from the one recognized enemy-the , Evil Eye. The wounds were healing badly, and the irritation set up had caused fever.
 Tell her we can give her medicine, ; l we said to the Turk, but it is not med icine to drink; it is to wash the wounds with. If the baby drinks it it will die ''The message was interpreted. Aha, | aha, MashaItah,' was tmurmured all through the crowd. The baby became an object of intense interest; the sol l dier threw back his head and pretended to swallow, then he pointed signifcant- ly to heaven and to the unconscious victim at his feet.
 'Ha! ha!' murmured the crowd.
 'Hassan meanwhile had begun to | fidget uneasily. < There are fieas here,' he said; you | must not stop any longer
 ''We rose, and, silently salaaming our host passed out off the tent. It was lighter outside; the moon had ris- en; casting mysterious black shadows l round the huts, where weird black and white orms fitted stealthily in and out, ''The Arab encan1pment into which l we had intruded ourselves was one of | many to be found at intervals down the banks of the Tigris below Mosul. We were on our way to Bagdad, float | ing down stream on one of the native rafts. and at night when we moored to the shore it was considered safer to establish ourselves within reach of some such habitation. On this occa- sion, owing to the shalloWness of the water on the low, shelving mud banks, we had been unable to bring the raft l right up to the shore, and 1t had been moored at a little distance out in the | water. The boatmen had carried us across on their backs, and had re- | truned to cook their evening meal on board. We now shouted across the water to them to come and carry us back. As we stood waiting a woman came up to us, dragging a child by the arm, who hid his head in his mother s dress and refused to allow himself to be examined. .s. .. ..:.
 "'He is i'll, too,' said the Turk, like | the other child.' ..--.a' | "'We will give them some medicine when we get on the raft we said; tell them each to send cup :.
 "'And this one says he is ill., the man went on, as a tall, sheepish look. ing youth touched me on the arm; they will all say they are i'll no wthat they know you have medicine.' l cr;1y +o !,