My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

172 MY LIFEwished to walk, and would take him as a guide, andnow hoped that I might be left at peace. But vainthought ! I was in the hands of the Philistines, who,getting me up against a wall, formed around me animpenetrable phalanx of men and brutes, thoroughlydetermined that I should only escape from the spotupon the four legs of a donkey. So, bethinkingmyself that donkey-riding was a national institutionof venerable antiquity, and seeing a fat Yankeealready mounted, being like myself, hopeless of anyother means of escape, I seized upon a bridle inhopes that I should then be left by the remainderof the crowd. But seeing that I was at last goingto ride, each one was determined that he aloneshould profit by the transaction, and a dozen animalswere forced suddenly upon me, and a dozen pair ofhands tried to lift me upon their respective beasts.But now my patience was exhausted, so, keepingfirm hold of the bridle I had first taken with onehand, I hit right and left with the other, and callingupon my guide to do the same, we succeeded inclearing a little space around us. Now, then, beholdyour long-legged friend mounted upon a jackass inthe streets of Alexandria ; a boy behind, holding byhis tail and whipping him up ;Charles, who had beenlost sight of in the crowd, upon another ; and myguide upon a third ;and off we go among a crowdof Jews and Greeks, Turks and Arabs, and veiledwomen and yelling donkey-boys, to see the city.We saw the bazaars, and the slave market (where Iwas again nearly pulled to pieces for ' backsheesh '),the mosques with their graceful minarets, and thenthe pasha's new palace, the interior of which ismost gorgeous. We passed lots of Turkish soldiers,walking in comfortable irregularity ; and after the