These are most useful to an explorer, as possessing
unmistakable purgative properties, they create an
undeniable effect upon the patient, which satisfies
him of their value. They are also extremely conve-
-nient, as they may be carried by the pound in a tin
box, and served out in infinitesimal doses from one to
ten at a time, according to the age of the patients. I
had a large medicine chest, with all necessary drugs,
•but I was sorely troubled by the Arab women, many
of whom were barren, who insisted upon my supplying
them with some medicine that’ would remove
this stigma, and render them fruitful. It was in vain
-to deny them; I therefore gave them usually a small
dose of ipecacuanha, with the comforting word to an
Arab, “ Inshallah,” “ if it please God” At the same
time I explained that the medicine was of little value.
On the following morning, during the march, my
wife had a renewal of fever. We had already passed
a large village named Abré, and the country was a
forest of small trees, which, being in leaf, threw a
delicious shade. Under a tree, upon a comfortable
bed of dry sand, we were obliged to lay her for
several hours, until the paroxysm passed, and she
could remount her dromedary. This she did with
extreme difficulty, and we hurried towards Cassala,
from which town we were only a few miles distant.
For the last fifty or sixty miles we had seen the
Cassala mountain—at first a blue speck above the
horizon. It now rose in all the beauty of a smooth
and bare block of granite, about 3,500 feet above the
level of the country, with the town of Cassala at the
base, and the roaring torrent Gash flowing at our feet.
When we reached the end of the day’s march it
was between 5 and 6 p .m . The walled town was
almost washed by the river, which was at least 500
yards wide. However, our guides assured us that
it was fordable, although dangerous, on account of
the strength of the current. Camels are most stupid
and nervous animals in water; that ridden by my
wife was fortunately better than the generality. I
sent two Arabs, with poles, ahead of my camel, and
carefully led the way. After considerable difficulty,
we forded the river safely; the water was nowhere
•above four feet deep, and, in most places, it did not
exceed three; but the great rapidity of the stream
would have rendered it impossible' for the men to
cross without the assistance of poles. One of our
camels lost its footing, and was carried helplessly
down the river for some hundred yards, until it.
stranded upon a bank.
The sun had sunk when we entered Cassala. It is
a walled town, surrounded by a ditch and flanking
towers, and containing about 8,000 inhabitants, exclusive
of troops. The houses and walls were of
unburnt brick, smeared with clay and cow-dung. As
we rode through the dusty streets, I sent off
Mahomet with my firman to the Mudir; and, not
finding a suitable place • inside the town, I returned
outside the walls, where I ordered the tents to be
pitched in a' convenient spot among some wild fig