excluded "this gentleman from the select circle of
our acquaintance.
“ The Arab women are very clever in basket-
work and ■ matting—they carry their milk in baskets
that are so closely fitted as to be completely
water-tight; these are made of the leaves of
the dome palm, shred, into fine strips. In
addition to the coarse matting required for their
tents, they manufacture very fine sleeping mats,
curiously arranged in various coloured patterns;
these are to cover the angareps, or native bedsteads,
which are simple frameworks upon legs,
covered with a network of raw hide worked in a
soft state, after which it hardens to the tightness
of a drum when thoroughly dry. No bed is more
comfortable for a warm climate than a native
angarep with a simple mat covering; it is beautifully
elastic, and is always cool, as free ventilation
is permitted from below. I have employed the
Arab women to make me a hunting cap of the
basket-work of dome palm, to my old pattern.
“ August 28.—I have been busily employed in
putting new soles to my shoes, having cut up the
leather cover of a gun-case for material. No ner-
son can walk barefooted in this country, as the
grass is armed with thorns, A peculiar species,,
that resembles a vetch, bears a circular pod as
large as a horse-bean; the exterior of the pod is
armed with long and sharp spikes like the head of
an ancient mace; these pods when ripe are exceedingly
hard, and falling to the ground in great
numbers, the spikes will pierce the sole of any shoe
unless of a stout substance.
I August 29.—Florian is very ill with fever. The
mosquitoes are so troublesome that the Arabs cannot
sleep in their huts, but are forced to arrange
platforms about six feet high, upon which the whole
family rest until they are awakened by a sudden
thunderstorm, and are compelled tp rush into their
huts;—this has been the case nightly for some time
past.
“ I find that the whole village has been trying on
my new hunting-cap, that an Arab woman has just
completed; this was brought to me to-day, thick
with butter and dirt from their greasy pates. This
is a trifle—yesterday Florian was ill and required
some tea ; his servant tried' the degree of heat by
plunging his dirty black finger to the bottom.
“ Shortly after our wild Arab lad, Bacheet, was
engaged, we drilled him as table servant. The flies
were very troublesome, and continually committed
suicide by drowning themselves in the tea. One
morning during breakfast there were many cases of
felo de se, or ‘temporary insanity/ and my
wife’s tea-cup was full of victims; Bacheet wishing,
to be attentive, picked out the bodies with his
finger and . thumb !!— ‘ Now, my good fellow,
Bacheet/ I exclaimed, c you really must not put
your dirty fingers in the tea: you should take them
out with the tea-spoon. Look here, and I per