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ran in Turkish, which he sanctified by applying them to his shaven and naked crown.

At Trebizond he was informed that the bashaw was dangerously sick and threatened with blindness. He was directed to prescribe for this grand patient; but this he refused to do, until he should be admitted to the sovereign presence. Thither he was conducted through files of armed soldiers and ranks of kneeling officers. Having arrived in the sick chamber, the dervise displayed all the pomp and grandeur of his calling, by solemnly invoking God and the prophet. He next proceeded to inquire under what disease the bashaw laboured. Finding that he was afflicted with a fever accompanied with a violent inflammation of the eyes, and judging that he might recover both health and sight, he boldly declared it to be God's will that both these events should happen, after the next new moon, provided certain intermediate remedies should be used. Then searching the pouch containing his medicines and apparatus, he produced a white powder which he ordered to be blown into the bashaw's eyes, and a wash of milk and water to be frequently employed afterwards. Sweating was likewise recommended, by the assistance of warm drinks and blankets. He was well rewarded by money and presents; and the next day departed with the caravan towards Persia, intending to be nine or ten days' journey from Trebizond before the new moon should appear, that he might be quite out of reach, in case the event should be unfortunate.

This caravan being numerous, and heavily loaded, was overtaken some days afterward by a lighter, and armed caravan, who pursued them for the purpose of plunder. And the caravan to which he belonged finding it must either fight or purchase terms, it chose the latter. This affair being settled, he heard two men of the marauding caravan talking to each other, concerning the grand dervise who had cured the bashaw of Trebizond. He heard them say that recovery was confidently expected, inasmuch as the threatening symptoms had abated, and the prospect was every way more encouraging. The dervise then rejoiced at the beneficial operation of the caustic lime which he had ordered to be blown into the bashaw's eyes, to eat the films

away. On his return, the physician presented himself before the governor. He was received as a great and good man, and loaded again with donations.

At this place he remained until a caravan was prepared to undertake a journey to Mecca. To this body of pilgrims and traders, he attached himself as a dervise. They arrived in proper time in that region of Yemen. But the Wechabites had made great progress in their fanatical work. They had demolished in part the old religion of Mahomet, and set up their new revelation in its stead, burned the body of the prophet, destroyed the holy temple, and sequestered the revenue paid at the shrine of Mahomet. The caravan feared to encounter these zealous and daring innovators, and halted at a distance. But the dervise, availing himself partly of his priestly occupation, and partly of his personal adroitness, went over to their camp, and was well received.

Having tarried as long as he pleased in Mecca, he went to a port near Jedda, a city on the Red sea. Thence he crossed to the There he made himself

west side, and coasted along to Suez. known to lord Gordon, a Scottish traveller, and entered into his employ, as an interpreter. With him he travelled to Cairo, and through the Lermar, to Nubia and Abyssinia. His last exercise previous to his separation from that munificent gentleman, was to decorate with flowers, fruits, leaves, branches and chandeliers, the hall in which his employer, on his return, gave a splendid treat to the foreign residents and consuls, then at Cairo.

From this place, he returned after an absence of six years, to Alexandria: and on inquiring for his wife, was told she was in concealment. A separation was readily agreed upon by mutual consent, and she immediately formed a connexion with a Copt,

a man of her own sect.

Being once more in Cairo, he wholly threw aside the character of a dervise, and assumed the occupation and uniform of an engineer. Here he was engaged in planning military works, and in superintending their execution. While he was thus employed, news was brought him that captain Eaton had arrived, and wished a confidential and intrepid agent, to convey a message to Hamet Caramelli, the ex-bashaw of Tripoli in Barbary. At an

interview which took place between them, the former first swore the latter to secrecy on the Koran, and then communicated his project.

Having agreed to the conditions, he took the earliest opportunity to desert the Turks, and to penetrate through the desert to the Mamaluke camp, where Caramelli was; in poverty and dependence, though respected. It is to be understood that Egypt is divided into English and French parties: the Turks being attached to the French, and the Mamalukes to the English. With a single attendant and two dromedaries, he proceeded with the swiftness of wind, feeding the animals with small balls composed of meal and eggs, and taking no other sleep than he could catch upon the back of the hard trotting beast. He reached the Mamaluke camp in safety. The sheik, in token of a welcome reception, gave him a few sequins, and refreshed him with coffee. In a short time he so arranged matters with the ex-bashaw, that one night Caramelli went forth as if on an ordinary expedition with about one hundred and fifty followers, and instead of returning to his Mamaluke encampment, sped his way over the trackless sands, and with that force reached the rendezvous of the enterprising American.

With all the forces they could jointly assemble, they traversed with extreme toil and suffering, the deserts of Barca, for the purpose of making a diversion in favour of the squadron of armed ships which the United States of America had ordered against the city of Tripoli. After surmounting incredible hardships, they arrived at Derne, and gained an advantage over the troops of the reigning bashaw in a skirmish. This action spread terror through all the Tripolitan dominions, and exceedingly alarmed the bashaw in his castle. Immediately after, a peace was concluded by consul Lear. In consequence of this, orders were forthwith sent to the American vessels on the coast and the cooperating land-forces under Eaton, to discontinue hostile operations. The Egyptian host was requested to embark in the American vessels. Part of them, thus stopped in mid-career, did so; and the rest remained on shore, subject, now they were inferior in martial strength, to the cruelty and caprice of the angry despot and his vassals.

Leitensdorfer was one of the persons who went on board, and witnessed the mortification of the ex-bashaw and the ravings of his lieutenant general, at this unexpected order, so subversive of their plans, and so ruinous of their hopes. He himself acted as a colonel. In this vessel he went, by way of Malta, to Syracuse. From which place he proceeded to Albania, taking the route of Corfu to Salona, with the design of inquiring by letter what was the situation of a son by his first marriage, whom he had left in Tyrol. Immediately on landing among the Turks, he was seized as an apostate Mahometan, and reduced to slavery. By degrees, however, he excited favourable sentiments, in consequence of having cured several sick sailors during the voyage. In addition to which he pleaded the necessity he felt, when in the American army of Africa, of conforming to the dress and manners of that strange and peculiar people of the west, under a belief that to be an American was not to be a christian. He was at length restored to the freedom of a faithful mussulman. He next visited Palermo, and there formed a temporary marriage with a female willing to engage in such a connexion.

About this time the new king of Naples threatened to conquer Sicily in spite of all the resistance that Ferdinand the Fourth, and the English could make. On this, Leitensdorfer became alarmed for his own safety, knowing that he had no mercy to expect from Frenchmen. He determined to embark as a passenger for the American states. But no master of a vessel could be found, who would receive him in that capacity. He then resolved to offer himself as a sailor; and was entered as such on board a vessel bound to Salem in Massachusetts. Here he learned to hand, reef and steer, and do the active business of a seaman. He arrived at Salem in December, 1809, and soon went on a visit to his old friend and fellow warrior at Brimfield. He was hospitably received, and left his late general, with honourable sentiments of his generosity and bravery. By him he was advised to visit Washington, and to present himself to the president and secretary of state. For this purpose, Eaton had furnished Leitensdorfer with recommendatory letters, stating the compensation due to him for his various services and losses. By these gentlemen, he was referred to the secretary at war; and was sent

from one to the other until his skill in surveying, drawing and engineering became known to the surveyor of the public buildings, and he thereby acquired some of the patronage of Mr. Latrobe.

Thus he lived along, occupy ing one of the vacant chambers in the northern pile of the capital, as a watch or an office-keeper, providing and cooking for hims elf, and employing his hands in almost every kind of occupation, from the making of shoes, to the insnaring of birds, and the delineation of maps.

This extraordinary man is about five feet ten inches in height; with dark eyes, black hair, and brown complexion. His looks are lively, his gestures various, and his limbs remarkably flexible and vigorous. His forehead is ample, his features expressive, and his figure rather spare and lean. With such natural marks and powers, he has been enabled to assume the respective characters of Jew, Christian and Mahometan; and of soldier, linguist, engineer, farmer, and tradesman, with uncommon ease. And in short, he has proved himself to be one of the most versatile of human beings; having acted during his multifarious life in about thirty different capacities. In the course of his adventures he has received several wounds. And his eccentric life has afforded incidents to gratify the inhabitants of Vienna by a theatrical representation of his character on the stage.

He can utter the Hebrew words of worship almost exactly like a rabbi in the synagogue. He can recite the Latin prayers and homilies of the christians after the manner and in the tone of the capuching; and he pronounces the religious sentences of the mussulmen in Arabic, with the earnestness and emphasis of a mufti. All these he performed for me successively one morning with singu lar readiness and skill.

To complete his strange story, Mr. Bradley undertook to be his friend in the senate of the United States; and that body passed a bill, int roduced by him, giving Leitensdorfer a half section of land (three hundred and twenty acres) and the pay of a captain from the 15th of December, 1804, to the 15th of Decem the time that he served as adjutant and inspector of the army of the United States, in Egypt, and on the coast of Africa.

ber, 1805, being

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