212 JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AFRICA.

asked for arakee, and when I told him that it was bad for the liver, said it was the only thing which did him good. Mahmoud Efiendi, who was a good-humored Turk, made himself quite at home. I showed them my sketches, with which they were greatly diverted. A remark of the Governor gratified me exceedingly, as it showed that all the attention I received was paid me, not on account of my supposed rank, but from the fact of my being the first American who had ever visited the place. " I have been in this country twenty-four years," said he, " and in all that time only some French and two or three German and English travellers have passed through.

You are the first I have seen from Yenhee-Doonea. [This sounds very much like Yankee-Doodledom, but is in reality the Turkish for " New World."] You must not go home with an unfavorable account of us." He had once, when in Alexandria, visited an American man-of-war, which, it appeared, had left a strong impression upon his mind. After mentioning the circumstance, he asked me how many vessels there were in our Navy. I had mastered the Arabic language sufficiently to know the necessity of exaggeration, and answered, without hesitation, that there were one hundred. " Oh no ! " said Mustapha, turning to Mahmoud, the Secretary : " His Excellency is entirely too modest. I know very well that there are six hundred vessels in the American Navy ! " I had fallen far below the proper mark ; but Achmet tried to straighten the matter by saying that I meant one hundred ships-of-the-line, and did not include the frigates, sloops-of-war, brigs and corvettes.

Before the Governor had finished his visit, there was a stir outside of the tent, and presently the Chief Mollah — the high-