Page:Ossendowski - The Fire of Desert Folk.djvu/182

166 may take something from the European life he sees about him, after he has most carefully considered and estimated its value, but he gives nothing in return save a silent appreciation, closely akin to a mild irony and entirely devoid of any thought of assimilation. These desert folk have, for instance, realized the value of European medicine and readily profit by it, even going so far as to ask tire doctors to attend their sick wives; yet, at the same time, they retain their appreciation of the good influence of magic talismans, formulas against djinns and of healing pilgrimages to the tombs of Idris, Harazem and Sidi Bu Ghaleb.