even the nights are hot, until about 2 a .m . at which
hour a cool breeze springs up. The wind now blows
from the south until about 1 p .m . when it changes
suddenly to the north, and then varies between these
two points during the rest of the day ; this leads
me to hope that the north wind will shortly set in.
September, as in England, is the autumn of this
land; the wild fruits are ripe, some of which are
not unpleasant, but they are generally too sweet, they
lack the acidity that would be agreeable in this
burning climate. There is an orange-coloured berry
that has a pleasant flavour, but it is extremely oily ;
this has a peculiarly disagreeable effect upon the
system, if eaten in any quantity. Several varieties
of excellent wild vegetables grow in great abundance
throughout this country : beans, three kinds of
spinach, the juicy, brittle plant cultivated in Lower
Egypt, and known as * réglé ;’ and lastly, that
main-stay of Arab cookery, f waker,’ well known
in Ceylon and India under the names of £ Barmian’
and ‘Bandikai.’ This grows to the height of thirteen
or fourteen feet in the rich soil of the tablelands
: the Arabs gather the pods and cut them
in thin slices ; these are dried in the sun and then
packed in large sacks for market. The harvest of
waker is most important, as no Arab dish would
be perfect without the admixture of this agreeable
vegetable. The dried waker is rubbed into powder
between two stones ; this, if boiled with a little gravy»
produces a gelatinous and highly-flavoured soup.
“ September 29.—We have just heard that Atalan
Wat Said, by whom we were so well received, is
dead! The Arabs have a disagreeable custom of
paying honours to a guest by keeping the anniversary
of the death of any relatives whose decease
should be known to them; thus, when Atalan Wat
Said paid a visit to Sheik Achmet Abou Sinn, the
latter celebrated with much pomp the anniversary
of his (Atalan’s) late father’s death. The unfortunate
guest, who happened to arrive in Abou Sinn’s
camp upon the exact day upon which his father
had died on the preceding year, was met by a
mourning crowd, with the beating of drums, the
howling of women, and the loud weeping and
sorrowful condoling of the men. This scene affected
Atalan Wat Said to such a degree, that, being rather
unwell, he immediately sickened with fever, and
died in three days. In this country any grief of
mind will insure an attack of fever, when all are
more or less predisposed during the unhealthy season
from the commencement of July until the end
of October.
“ This afternoon I took the rod, and having caught
a beautiful silver-sided fish of about a pound weight,
I placed it upon a large single hook fastened under
the back fin. In about an hour I had a run, but
upon striking, I pulled the bait out of the fish s
mouth, as the point of the hook had not touched
the jaw. I had wound up slowly for about thirty
yards, hoping that the big fellow would follow his
Q 2