HABITS AND CUSTOMS. 93 where he is travelling to ? what has befallen him on the road ? whether he have heard of any fresh war, and the like ? in fact they scarcely allow him time to breathe, and he has barely answered one question before a hundred fresh inquiries are made. The servant has to suffer more even than the master from their importunities; for they endeavour to obtain all possible information indirectly from him. They ask him who the stranger is ? whether he is a person of consideration ? to which nation he belongs ? and anything else, in fact, they may deem worthy of knowing. If they hear that he is a Frank, then the conflux becomes great indeed. All the sick persons in the village are dragged into his presence, and he is entreated to give advice and medicine. Protestations to the effect that he is no medical man are of no use, for a Frank must be a hakkim, and the stranger has no alternative left him, but to console them with the hope of recover}' through Providence, if he will not make use of common domestic remedies. Should he have coffee and sugar served, or at least a pipe of good tobacco, he will cause them a great pleasure. Every man takes a few whiffs from the pipe and then hands it to his neighbour, and thus it circulates among them. He must not, hoM-ever, imagine that, when the pipe is out and the coffee finished, the natives will take their leave, for they become then, on the contrary, more talkative as their bashfulness is dissipated by his condescension. There is, in fine, no other way of getting rid of these trouble-