ey show great imaginative
power. Laboulaye took great interest in the United States, her people, and
her literature; and many of his works are devoted to American questions.
He translated the works of Dr. William E. Channing into French.
###

Mansour, the Egyptian merchant, one day repaired to the cadi on account of
a suit, the issue of which troubled him but little. A private conversation
with the judge had given him hopes of the justice of his cause. The old
man asked his son Omar to accompany him in order to accustom him early to
deal with the law.

The cadi was seated in the courtyard of the mosque. He was a fat,
good-looking man, who never thought, and talked little, which, added to
his large turban and his air of perpetual astonishment, gave him a great
reputation for justice and gravity.

The spectators were numerous; the principal merchants were seated on the
ground on carpets, forming a semicircle around the magistrate. Mansour
took his seat a little way from the sheik, and Omar placed himself between
the two, his curiosity strongly excited to see how the law was obeyed, and
how it was trifled with in case of need.

The first case called was that of a young Banian, as yellow as an orange,
with loose flowing robes and an effeminate air, who had lately landed from
India, and who complained of having been cheated by one of Mansour's
rivals.

"Having found a casket of diamonds among the effects left by my father,"
said he, "I set out for Egypt, to live there on the proceeds of their
sale. I was obliged by bad weather to put into Jidda, where I soon found
myself in want of money. I went to the bazaar, and inquired for a dealer
in precious stones. The richest, I was told, was Mansour; the most honest,
Ali, the jeweler. I applied to Ali.

"He welcomed me as a son, as soon as he learned that I had diamonds to
sell, and carried me home with him. He gained my confidence by every kind
of attention, and advanced me all the money I needed. One day, after
dinner, at which wine was not wanting, he examined the diamonds, one by
one, and said, 'My child, these diamonds are of little value; my coffers
are full of such stones. The rocks of the desert furnish them by
thousands.'

"To prove the truth of what he said, he opened a box, and, taking
therefrom a diamond thrice as large as any of mine, gave it to the slave
that was with me. 'What will become of me?' I cried; 'I thought myself
rich, and here I am, poor, and a s