His Figure Was Very Perfect, And He Was As Thoroughly "Set-Up"
As Though He Had Been In The Hands
Of a drill-sergeant from his cradle.
He carried a long stick like the shaft of a lance, with which
He could
poke a refractory mule, but which he always used when mounting by
resting one end upon the ground, and with the left hand upon the saddle
he ascended with the ease of a spiritualist "floating in the air." Iiani
was very polite to ladies, and he knew their ways. He seldom advanced
without an offering of some lovely flower or a small sprig of
sweetly-scented herb, which he invariably presented with a graceful bow
and a smile intended to represent a combination of humility, amiability,
gentility, and as many other "ilitys" as could be squeezed into his
expressive features. It is hardly necessary after this description to
say that Iiani was a very tall humbug, pleasant in manner when he had
his own way. He was lazy to such a degree that he invariably fell asleep
upon his mule after smoking innumerable cigarettes. In these cases his
long body swayed to the right and left, and occasionally nodded forward
to an extent that sometimes awoke him with the jerk; after which
spasmodic return of consciousness an immediate relapse took place, and
he fell asleep again. As he rode directly before me, as guide, this
chronic somnolency was most annoying, and I had to drive his mule into a
faster walk by poking its hind-quarters with my stick. The animal would
then break into a sudden trot, which would awaken the rider to the fact
that he had been dreaming; upon which he burst into some peculiar song
that was intended to prove that he was wide awake; but after a few bars
the ditty ceased; the head once more nodded and swung from side to side;
the mule relaxed its pace . . . Iiani was asleep again!
In another sense he was very wide-awake. He had represented to me that
he was the proprietor of the seven camels and five mules, but I quickly
discovered that he was only the owner of a completely worn-out old camel
and four mules: he had hired the other animals at a considerably lower
rate than I had agreed to pay him, therefore I should have the
difficulty of several discontented owners instead of one. However, we
had started before this fact was explained by my factotum Christo.
The route lay along the sea-shore through a forest of caroub-trees and
olives, occasionally varied by patches of cereals. Upon our right to the
sea-margin were tolerable crops of barley, most of which had been
irrigated by water conducted from the hills. At about four miles
distance from Kyrenia the caroubs and olives of all growths exhibited
the effects of north-easterly gales, as they inclined to south-west; and
those nearest to the sea, which acted as screens, and received the full
unbroken force of the wind, were seriously damaged.
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