Very few had well-shaped calves, but remarkably
thin and cleanly formed ankles, with very delicately
shaped feet. The men were constantly •/ bathinOg in the clear waters of the Atbara, and were perfectly
naked, although close to the women; we soon became
accustomed to this daily scene, as we do at Brighton
and other English bathing-towns.
Our life at Wat el Ndgur was anything but disagreeable
; we had acquired great fame in several
ways : the game that I shot I divided among the
people; they also took an interest in the fishing, as
they generally had a large share of all that I caught ';
my wife was very kind to all the children, and to
the women, who came from great distances to see
her; and my character as a physician having been
spread far and wide, we became very celebrated
people. Of course I was besieged daily by the
maimed, the halt, and the blind, and the poor people,
with much gratitude, would insist upon bringing
fowls and milk in return for our attention* to their
wants. These I would never accept* but on many
occasions, upon my refusal, the women would untie
the legs of a bundle of chickens, and allow them
to escape in our camp, rather than be compelled to
return with their offering. Even the fakeers (priests)
were our great friends, although we were Christians,
and in my broken Arabic, with the assistance of
Mahomet, I used to touch upon theological subjects.
At first they expressed surprise that such clever
people as the English should worship idols made' of
wood, or other substances, by the hands of man. I
explained to them their error, as we were Protestants
in England, who had protested against the practice
of bowing down before the figure of Christ, or any
other form I that we simply worshipped God through
Christ, believing Him to be both Saviour and Mediator.
I recalled to their recollection that- Mahomet
and they themselves believed in Christ, as the
greatest of all the prophets, therefore in reality
there was not so very wide a gulf between their
creed and our own; both acknowledging the same
God; both believing in Christ, although differing in
the degree of that belief. I allowed that Mahomet
was a most wonderful man, and that, if a cause is
to be valued by its effect, he was as much entitled
to the name of prophet as Moses, the first lawgiver.
Our arguments never became overheated, as
these simple yet stedfast Arabs, who held the faith
of their forefathers untarnished and uncorrupted by
schisms, spoke more with reverence to the great spirit
•of religion, than with the acrimony of debate;
“My brothers,” I would reply, “ we are all Gods
creatures, believing in the one great Spirit who
created us and all things, who made this atom of
dust that we call our world, a tiny star amongst
the hosts of heaven; and we, differing in colours
and in races, are striving through our short but
weary pilgrimage to the same high point, to the
same mountain-top, where we trust to meet when
the journey shall be accomplished. That mountain