''THE KING OF TEE CEIMPANZEESr 177 Notwitlistanding this, we were mucli amused at the fear shown by Gessi's clerk, Halil Effendi ; he was so terrified at each lurch of the boat, that he cried like a child, and betook himself to prayer with great fervour. He was not a strong-minded individual, nor gifted with much intelligence, as the following story will show :—Some soldiers having caught a chimpanzee, sent it by a small party of men as a present to the Pasha ; but on the road some besingers met them, a fight ensued, and the monkey was killed. News of this catastrophe was sent by letter to the Pasha, and of course the clerk read the letter, and was in great trouble about its contents, asking the Pasha if he had not better write at once to the " king of the chimpanzees to say how sorry he was about his son's death ; the Arabs believing that, far away in unexplored regions, there is a tribe of large monkeys who speak and fight ; and Halil Efi'endi was afraid that they would come to avenge the death of one of their fellows. The joke was kept up for some time by the Pasha, and some ridiculous letters were written in consequence. This reminds me that the nickname of the Arabs for Gessi Pasha was "the red-faced baboon !

Whilst travelling with him and Genaue Bey, our attention was called to the number of fine little gun-boys who were always in attendance. Hundreds of these poor children had been killed in the VOL. n. N