Prophet: besides the chance such visits afforded of transmitting to their offspring the honour of so holy a descent. March 11.—Small-pox is at present very prevalent. The patient is treated in the following manner :—When the disease makes its appearance, they anoint the whole body with honey, and the patient lies down on the floor, previously strewed with warm sand, some of which is also sprinkled upon him. If the patient is very ill, he is bathed in cold water early every morning, and is afterwards anointed with honey, and replaced on the warm sand. This is their only mode of treatment; but numbers died every day of this loathsome disease, which had now been raging for the last six months. I had my baggage packed up for my journey to Kashna; to the great terror of El Wordee, the shreef, and all my servants, who earnestly begged me to remain only one day longer.—-A party of horse and foot arrived from Zirmee last night. It was the retinue of a Felatah captain, who was bringing back a young wife from her father’s, where she had made her escape. The fair fugitive bestrode a very handsome palfrey, amid a group of female attendants on foot. I was introduced to her this morning, when she politely joined her husband in requesting me to delay my journey another day, in which case they kindly proposed we should travel together. Of course it was impossible to refuse so agreeable an invitation, to which I seemed to yield with all possible courtesy; indeed I had no serious intention of setting out that day. The figure of the lady was small, but finely formed, and her complexion of a clear copper colour ; while, unlike most beautiful women, she was mild and unobtrusive in her manners. Her husband, too, whom she had deserted, was one of the finest-looking men I ever saw, and had also the reputation of being one of the bravest of his nation. A hump-backed lad, in the service of the gadado, or vizier, of Bello, who, on his way from Sackatoo, had his hand dreadfully wounded by the people of Goober, was in the habit of coming every evening to my servants to have the wound dressed. Last night he told me he had formerly been on an expedition under Abdeeachman, a Felatah chief. They started from the town of Labojee in Nyffee, and crossing the Quarra, travelled south fourteen days along the banks of the river, until they were within four days’ journey of the sea, where, according to his literal expression, “ the river was one, and the sea was o n e b u t at what precise point the river actually entered the sea he had no distinct notion. March 12 The weather clear and warm. The Felatah chief again waited upon me to-day, and handsomely offered to conduct me himself to Sackatoo, if my escort did not arrive in time. The town of Quarra is surrounded by a clay wall about twenty feet high, and may contain from 5000 to 6000 inhabitants, who are principally Felatahs. I t lies in a valley environed by low hills, the river Quarrama flowing a little to the south of the town, and two or three miles lower down joining the river before-mentioned that passes IAutri. During the dry season, a number of Tuaricks, who come with salt from Bilma, lodge in huts outside the walls. March 13.—At half-past six o’clock I commenced my journey, in company with the Felatah chief. El Wordee and the shreef were evidently in much trepidation, as they did not consider our present party sufficiently strong in case of attack. Our road lay through a level country, clear of wood, with large fields of indigo, cotton, and grain. At nine in the morning, we were agreeably surprised by meeting the escort I expected. It consisted of 150 horsemen, with drums and trumpets. Their leader, with his'attendants, advanced to me at full gallop, and bade me welcome to the country in the name of his master, the sultan ; who, he said, was rejoiced to hear I was so near, and had sent him to conduct me to his capital. Nothing cotild now equal the joy of El Wordee and the shreef who had both been cursing my temerity the whole morning. During the time we halted with the escort, a party of boxers from
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