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Kinglake, Alexander William, 1809-1891

"Eothen, or, Traces of Travel Brought Home from the East"


Sometimes, like marble, the classic face of the Greek Mysseri would
catch the sudden light, and then again by turns the ever-perturbed
Dthemetri, with his old Chinaman's eye and bristling, terrier-like
moustache, shone forth illustrious.
I always liked the men who attended me on these Eastern travels,
for they were all of them brave, cheery-hearted fellows; and
although their following my career brought upon them a pretty large
share of those toils and hardships which are so much more amusing
to gentlemen than to servants, yet not one of them ever uttered or
hinted a syllable of complaint, or even affected to put on an air
of resignation. I always liked them, but never perhaps so much as
when they were thus grouped together under the light of the bivouac
fire. I felt towards them as my comrades rather than as my
servants, and took delight in breaking bread with them, and merrily
passing the cup.
The love of tea is a glad source of fellow-feeling between the
Englishman and the Asiatic. In Persia it is drunk by all, and
although it is a luxury that is rarely within the reach of the
Osmanlees, there are few of them who do not know and love the
blessed tchai.


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