CAPSUNE. 257 firing party and shown to us. A glass mustardpot whicli Suleiman tiad been in tlie habit of using as a drinking-cup was given to me by Gessi as a souvenir.

When at Dara we were very short of servants, and Slatin Bey offered me one of his liberated slave boys, named Capsune. He was a nice bright little fellow, so I accepted him, and found that although very young, being only about six years old, he had gone through some strange adventures. A sketch of his life before he became my servant, taken from his own lips, may be of interest.

The first years of his life were spent happily and peacefully, his home being " far away," many days' journey from Dara, in a land of running waters and trees and flowers. He remembers his father and mother and three grown-up brothers, with great affection, and tears often come into his eyes as he talks of them and of his old home. His father possessed cows and sheep, and cultivated the ground; and besides the necessary food, he grew cotton, which he spun and wove for the clothing of the family. The men of the village were armed with lances and knives, but appear to have been of a peaceable disposition until molested by the Arabs.

Capsune's chief playmate was a little white goat, a present from his father ; he helped to take care of the cattle, and made snares for birds, and tamed them, and had no heavier sorrow than the loss of VOL. n. s