was covered with mats; and his spears, and wooden bowls for water and milk, hung on pegs, completed the furniture: here was his own apartment. In the second division there were two huts, rather smaller, about ten paces from each other, in which dwelt his two wives: they were called to the door, and desired to salute me; but on looking up, uttered a scream, and hiding their faces with their hands, crept back again so quickly, as to make me almost ashamed of my complexion. March 1.—A few yams were sent us by the sheikh, the only ones we had seen, and a great treat they proved to us, for it was the only vegetable we had tasted for many months. A meeting took place this morning at day-break, under a large tree in front of the sheikh’s residence, and in his presence, between the Arab sheikhs and Boo-Khaloom. The Arabs had appealed to him as their umpire; and although he appeared not to take any part in their disputes, yet I thought a disposition was very apparent in him to increase the feud : he offered to mount one hundred of the Arabs, and send one of his chiefs, under Boo-Khaloom’s orders, to Begharmi, with fifteen hundred or two thousand horsemen; and great part of the produce of this expedition was to be sent as a present to the bashaw. Nothing could be more distressing than Boo-Khaloom’s situation; he knew the disposition of his master too well not to feel what his fate would be, if he refused such an opportunity of taking him at least two thousand slaves,—his own inclinations led him to proceed to Soudan; but he was still anxious to avoid becoming the scourge of one people, to gratify the revenge of another. The Arabs were also divided. The people of Begharmi had, on the last expedition, nearly foiled their invaders by abandoning their towns, driving off their flocks and cattle, and obliging the sheikh’s people to subsist entirely, for twenty-five days, on a little prepared paste made of flour and curd, which they always take with them to the field. This the mounted Arabs dreaded a repetition of, while the more adventurous infantry, who had nothing to trade with but their gun, and consequently no- thing to lose but their lives, exclaimed loudly for the ghrazzie. March 2.—Boo-Khaloom went this day to Birnie, for the purpose of paying his respects to the sultan, who resides there, and we accompanied him. Angornou, a very large and populous town, where the sheikh resided previous to his building Kouka, is about sixteen miles from that place, and two miles from Birnie. Boo- Khaloom took with him presents to, the amount of about one hundred and twenty dollars, but by some strange mistake we went empty-handed. On our arrival at. Birnie, which, is a walled town, with huts of the same description as those in Kouka, and probably contains ten thousand inhabitants, we were first conducted to the gate of the sultan’s mud edifice, where a few of the court were assembled to receive u s ; and one, a sort of chamberlain, habited in eight or ten tobes, or shirts, of different colours, the outside one of fine white tufted silk of the manufacture of Soudan. In his hand he carried an immense staff, like a drum-major’s baton, and on his head he bore a turban exceeding in size any thing of the kind we had before seen ; this was however but a trifling one to those we were destined to behold.at the audience on the following morning. After salutations, Barca Vaffia el hamdalilla ! (Blessing!—Are you well ? Thank God!) which lasted for some minutes, we were conducted to some huts destined for our resting-place for the night: they were not, however, of a tempting description ; and Boo-Khaloom proposed that a large tent should be pitched any where, which would be preferable. These wishes were quickly complied with; a large marquee was in a very short time ready for our reception, with a screen of linen running all round it, which, although it kept out the crowds of people who were assembled round the place, admitted the air, and formed a most inviting retreat from the burning sun that shone above us. The sultan shortly after sent word, that by sunrise the
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