Year: 1859

| uaIly passed the niSnt among Ine tOnoS-
Once when the summer was hotter than
usual, he happened to be engaged in the
cornhelds by wealthy peasant, who lived
near the ruins of Achoris. AS soon as
night fell, the south west wind blowing like
the breath of a furnace across the Great
Dessert, drove every person to seek for
shelter within doors, or behind some wall
or rock. The individual of whose indigence
we have spoken, was called Sibbi, and he
had no friends or relatives 10 whom be
could apply for assistance in his distress
When the hour for closing the doors
of the cottages arrived therefore, he
found himself excluded from every dwell
ing and wandered away sorrowfully in the
dark towards the mountains which over
hang the valley on the eastern side. Ar
rived at the rocks, painting and half-stitled
by the hot wind, he climbed up a little in
search of GOODNESS. The higher he mounted
the pleasanter it became. Through the
great gaps in the rocks which at times
brought down current of east wind upon
the city, nothing came bnt sort of
eddy of the night air, less scorching than
the fierce furnace blast upon the plain be-
low. Sibbi felt refreshed by this Slight i'm
provement in the state of the atmosphere,
and continued toitng up through the rents
in the face of the precipice till he reached
the edge of the great cisteEn which once
supplied twenty thousand persons with
their daily allowance of water.


Here he sat down, thinking the air abso-
lutely delicious. Even the wind of fifty
days was tempered into sweetness by that
elevation, and sported and played among
the honey-combed crags like a breeze of
Emma or Already. Refreshed and soothed,
Sibbi at length slept; ard the sun was al
ready lighting up the desert, and sheathing
the broad river with gold, when he awoke.
Sibbi was not worshipper of the pictur-
esque. lie was hungry, and hunger is in
sensible to the charms of scenery. The
hour, he knew, would soon be at hand when
he must descend into the hot valley, and
mos ea lis coarse black Trad with the
sweat of his brow; too happy even so to
ward off the threatened visit of death. But
as he sat in this quiet and breezy spot, he
experienced extreme reluctance to renew
his labors. Why not enjoy hunger and
idleness for one day =? He could lie in the
shadow of the cliff, and look down proudly
upon the slaves, scorching and frying among
the dhourra stubhle below. He resolved TO
enjoy this luxury, and remained sitting on
the edge of the cistern, gazing at the heaps
of whtish dus with which two thousand
years had nearly filled the mighty reser-
voir. His eye at length alighted on small
object, that Immediately riveted all his at
tention. 1t looked like q fragment of lunar
light cleaning softly and serenely in the
rich sunshine What could it be 1t was
by no means easy to descend into the reSer-
voir, and when there it might prove still
less elsy to climb out again. But the love
of adventure is generally the feeling upper
most in the mind of an Arab. Without
taking much counsel of prudence, Sibbi
leaped into the cistern, and with beating
heart approached the object which had
lured him into the gulf. There, fanked by
two pieces of cialiy stone, it lay drinking
in the morning light, and then rejecting it
upon the eye, softcned and subdued as if by
magic With the experience which seems
common TO all orientals, he understood it
was some rare gem, and the word which he
beheld engraven on its surface might, for
aught we know, be the Great Name by
which Suleilnan transported the treasures
of kaf into his regal palace among the
cedars.


Sibbi had some scrupie about touching
this wonderful amulet, whose powers might
shake the mountains, and call up around
him all the terrible legends of the Jenn.-
But courage came to him as he gazed. If it
be not supernatural he thought, it may still
sell for great deal in Cairo and embold-
ened by this practical consideration, Sibbi
picked up the gem and concealed it carefully
in his bosom. The next question was, how
70 escape from the reservoir. The rock all
round WAS smooth, polished, and perpendic-
ular, and little less than three times his own
hight. But everybody is acquainted with
the mother of invention, who how came to
the aid of the captive Arab, so :hat by
heaping up great stones and quantities of
dust against the smooth and slippery rock,
he contrived to escape from his prison.


Sibbi now believed himself to be in pos
session of wealth, and his heart was elated
accordingly. He descended hastily into the
valley, and without noticing whether the
wind that blew was hot or cold, hurried
along the path by the rivers side towards
the Mother of Cities. No one who has ever
considered the oriental mind, can fail to
have been struck by its strong propensity
toward building castles in the air. Half
the pleasures of life in the east, spring from
this faculty, which levels mountains, dries
SEAS fills up valleys, and creates at the least
touch, paradise in the desert. During his
first days journey, Sibbi was indebted to
his imagination for immT.iity from hunger
and thirst; but on the second morning, he
was fain TO have recourse to the proverbial
hospitality of his countrymen, and beg
little bread to preserve his stomach from
complete collapse. The more he pondered
on his situation, the less enviable did it be-
gin to appear. Who would be the purcha-
ser of the gem he had found Might he
not be suspected of having stolen it, be ta-
ken before the cadi, and by way of investi


eating, be bastinadoed upon the soles of his
feet till he should be half dead Who would
give credit to his story of the cistern and
the ruined city? "Verily," thought he,
they will say it is an imposture, and [
may be condemned and put to death as a
thief" Being, nevertheless, persuaded that
nothing can happen but what is written,
he comforted himself with the reflection,
that if he were hanged, it would only be in
accordance with destiny. Op, therefore, he
went, and in due time arrived at Cairo.


In that great city, which, in miniature


represents the whole east, he found cara
! vansary suited to his wants, and entering,