was found seated in his counting-house. This
counting-house, like most of the shops in a Turkish bazaar, bore a close
resemblance to the lion's den at the zoological gardens, the grating in
front being removed, and the floor raised about three feet above the mud
of the narrow street; if the pathway between the dens of the traders in
the bazaar of Gaza deserve to be dignified with the name of street. Fat
Ibrahim had very little the look of a Persian; instead of possessing the
genteel figure of that noble race, he was a squat fellow, with a large
mouth, a tallow face, and two arms hanging down from his shoulders at six
inches distance from his body, as if unable to approach nearer from some
electrical influence. He was, however, by no means very fat, so that his
nick-name of Fat Ibrahim was merely a distinctive epithet, borne as
Europeans bear the name of Black, Brown, White, or Green, without their
skin being of the colour of a dun cow, or a Brazilian parroquet. The
Persian dealt largely in tobacco and coffee on his own account, and in
various articles of other people's property, of which he exhibited
specimens on the walls of his den, for besides being a consul he called
himself a banker and general merchant.

He received Sidney and his companion with great affability, and as soon as
they were seated like a couple of tailors on his shop floor, he plied them
with pipes and coffee, and a stream of conversation which eclipsed the
volubility of Mr Lascelles Hamilton in the desert. He was by no means
deficient in wit, and talked of the scrape into which the travellers had
fallen by their accidental intercourse with Sheikh Salem, as the public
news of the bazar; while he induced them to recount their visit to his
brother consul, the Shamite, whom he ridiculed as a booby, who always
acted as a general merchant when he ought to act as a banker, and as a
banker when he ought to act as a consul. The Persian concluded by telling
Sidney, that he had now arrived at the right consular shop for protection.
Persia and England were the best of friends, and as the English consul
from Sham had been offering for French contracts, he hoped soon to display
the flag of England in his own courtyard.

A week was drawing to its close, and our travellers were still retained in
their state of quarantine at large. Sidney enjoyed himself walking about
and visiting the bazar, but poor Mr Lascelles Hamilton began to be alarmed
at the delay, and, stran