Soon the coffee-bearers appeared, every man carrying
separately his tiny cup in a small metal stand; and presently to
each of us there came a pipe-bearer, who first rested the bowl of
the tchibouque at a measured distance on the floor, and then, on
this axis, wheeled round the long cheery stick, and gracefully
presented it on half-bended knee; already the well-kindled fire was
glowing secure in the bowl, and so, when I pressed the amber up to
mine, there was no coyness to conquer; the willing fume came up,
and answered my slightest sigh, and followed softly every breath
inspired, till it touched me with some faint sense and
understanding of Asiatic contentment.
Asiatic contentment! Yet scarcely, perhaps, one hour before I had
been wanting my bill, and ringing for waiters, in a shrill and busy
hotel.
In the Ottoman dominions there is scarcely any hereditary influence
except that which belongs to the family of the Sultan, and wealth,
too, is a highly volatile blessing, not easily transmitted to the
descendant of the owner. From these causes it results that the
people standing in the place of nobles and gentry are official
personages, and though many (indeed the greater number) of these
potentates are humbly born and bred, you will seldom, I think, find
them wanting in that polished smoothness of manner, and those well-
undulating tones which belong to the best Osmanlees.
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