ABSTRACT
When I am travelling, I do without letters of recommendation as far as I can. The day one is known in a town, it becomes impossible to see anything 69further. Our men of the world, even in the East, would never agree to show themselves except in certain recognised places, nor would they converse in public with people of a lower class, or go out for a walk at certain hours of the day in anything but full-dress. I am very sorry for these gentlemen, always properly attired, bridled and gloved, who dare not mingle with the common people to see some curious detail, a dance, or a ceremony; who would be afraid to be seen in a café or a tavern, to follow a woman, or even to make friends with an Arab who kindly offers you the mouthpiece of his long pipe, or has coffee brought to his door for you as soon as he sees you stay out of curiosity or fatigue. The English especially are perfect, and I can never see one pass without being thoroughly amused. Picture to yourself a gentleman mounted on a donkey, with long legs trailing almost on the ground. His round hat is adorned with a thick covering of white cotton piqué. This, we are told, is a device against the heat of the sun's rays, which are supposed to be absorbed by this head-dress which is half a mattress and half a hat. As a protection for his eyes, the gentleman has two pairs of goggles, framed in blue steel, to break up the reverberations of the sun upon the walls. Over all this, he wears a green woman's veil to keep off the dust. His indiarubber coat has an outer covering of waxed linen to safeguard him against the plague and the chance touch of the passer-by. In his gloved hands he holds a long flick to keep away any suspicious Arab, and, as a rule, he never goes out without having his groom on one side and his dragoman on the other.
