the aga observed, "Friend Issachar, thy
tribe will always put off the worst goods first, if possible. Now I have
an idea that there is better wine in the second tier, than in the one
thou hast recommended. Let thy Greek put a spile into that cask,"
continued he, pointing to the very one in which I had headed up the
black slave. As I made sure that as soon as he had tasted the contents
he would spit them out, I did not hesitate to bore the cask and draw off
the wine, which I handed to him. He tasted it and held it to the
light--tasted it again and smacked his lips--then turning to my master,
exclaimed, "Thou dog of a Jew! wouldst thou have palmed off upon me vile
trash, when thou hadst in thy possession wine which might be sipped with
the Houris in Paradise?"

The Jew appealed to me if the pipes of wine were not all of the same
quality; and I confirmed his assertion.

"Taste it then," replied the aga, "and then taste the first which you
recommended to me."

My master did so, and was evidently astonished. "It certainly has more
body," replied he; "yet how that can be, I know not. Taste it,
Charis."--I held the glass to my lips, but nothing could induce me to
taste the contents. I contented myself with agreeing with my master (as
I conscientiously could), "that it certainly had more _body_ in it than
the rest."

The aga was so pleased with the wine, that he tasted two or three more
pipes of the back tier, hoping to find others of the same quality,
probably intending to have laid in a large stock; but finding no other
of the same flavour, he ordered his slaves to roll the one containing
the body of the slave into the litter, and carried it to his own house.

* * * * *

"Stop a moment, thou lying kafir!" said the pacha, "dost thou really
mean to say that the wine was better than the rest?"

"Why should I tell a lie to your sublime highness--am not I a worm that
you may crush? As I informed you, I did not taste it, your highness; but
after the aga had departed, my master expressed his surprise at the
excellence of the wine, which he affirmed to be superior to any thing
that he had ever tasted--and his sorrow that the aga had taken away the
cask, which prevented him from ascertaining the cause. But one day I was
narrating the circumstance to a Frank in this country, who expressed no
surprise at the wine being improved. He had been a wine-merchant in
England, and he informed me that it was