e.

The next spring, I was busy pumping off from one cask into the other,
according to our custom, when the aga of the janissaries came in. He
was a great wine-bibber, and one of our best customers. As his
dependants were all well known, it was not his custom to send them for
wine, but to come himself to the store and select a pipe. This was
carried away in a litter by eight strong slaves, with the curtains drawn
close, as if it had been a new purchase which he had added to his harem.
My master showed him the pipes of wine prepared for that year's market,
which were arranged in two rows; and I hardly need observe that the one
containing the Ethiopian was not in the foremost. After tasting one or
two which did not seem to please him, 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 can that 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.

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