Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 197 (Color Image)

0197	Among the Celestials : vol.1

CHAP. vii.] A MOHAMMEDAN MISSIONARY. 161

gether in patterns very tastefully. They were

all of European manufacture, some had come

from India, but most from Russia.

While walking through the bazaar I saw a

man with a sharper, keener look than the

ordinary Turki possesses, and suspecting that

he might come from India I addressed him in

Hindustani. To my delight he understood,

and informed me he was an Arab Hajji from

Mecca, who had travelled through India,

Afghanistan, Persia, Egypt, Turkey, and

Bokhara. On my asking him where he ex-

pected to go next he said, " Wherever Fate

may lead me."

Some Turkis seeing us standing talking very

politely asked us to come and sit in their shop

and drink tea. Then we had a long talk

together which was especially gratifying to me,

as for months I had not been able to carry on

a connected conversation with anyone. What

however struck me more than his quaint

description of the various countries he had

travelled through was his manner of addressing

the orderly crowd which had collected round,

and the evident influence he had over them. I

soon realised that I was sitting beside no one

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