[p.83] (where, contrary to his expectations, he again found me, and
where I only saw him once,) took frequent opportunities, and indeed
seemed anxious, to convince Mr. Salt and Mr. Lee, His Majestys and the
Levant Companys consuls, as well as several English travellers of note
who passed through Cairo, that he knew perfectly well, in the Hedjaz,
that I was no Moslem, but that his friendship for the English nation
made him overlook the circumstance, and permit me to impose upon the
Kadhy. He entertained a notion, suggested to him by some of his Frank
counsellors at Cairo, that, in some future account of my travels, I
might perhaps boast of having imposed upon him, like Aly Bey el Abassi,
whose work had just been received at Cairo, and who declares that he
deceived not only the Pasha, but all the olemas, or learned men, of
Cairo. To Mohammed Aly it was of more consequence not to be thought a
fool than a bad muselman.
Notwithstanding these declarations of the Pasha to the English
gentlemen, which were made in private, and certainly were not occasioned
by any imprudent speeches of mine, I continued to live, after my return
to Cairo, without molestation, as a Moslem, in the Turkish quarter. I
have to thank him for his polite reception of me at Tayf, and for his
having thrown no obstacles in the way of my travels through the Hedjaz.