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[Page 39]
half a dozen times and then spoke party of the fortune. Then he went on with the [indecipherable] of going round the imaginary figure again. Usually it was a triangle. Then came another bit of the fortune again and so on until it was all told. Roughly it was as follows. Six weeks ago he had been very sad but now he was better. He had left 3 or 4 people, one of whom loved him very much. He was shortly to rise in the world; (Going to be Lieutenant Col interjected one of the men) he was to attain a good position. He was to marry and the person who loved him to distraction was to bear for him (I forget the exact number) but anyhow one was to be a particularly fine boy and the cherub was to be the cause of mutual rejoicing and happiness. Shortly after marrying he was to start a business wherein he was, of course, to be pre-eminently successful. He left out the statue to be erected by an admiring posterity, but that little bit could be left to the imagination. All the fortunes told were I believe strangely similar. There were also donkey &
boys with patient steeds for hire. These boys run behind the ambling steed and beat it in the good old fashion. I have seen both described and pictured. By the way, when a few of these donkeys are tied up near each other the united smell is decidedly unpleasant. They are usually Part of their harness is usually adorned with gaudy tassels. There was one open air restaurant, eating house, café, or whatever you like to call it there. A woman clad in black with part of her dress thrown over her headlike a shawl, sat on the ground. In front of her and raised about a foot above the ground was a board. The menu was to people of Western customs, truly a strange one. There was a big vessel of this shape [small sketch of conventional looking "Ali Baba" shape of jar] containing a quantity of cooked beans. These beans were of a purplish colour and already shooting. They were placed in an enamel basin and some oil from a tin jar was poured over them. When the diner had finished with the