Page 89

27f 60

heads, and exhibiting various feats of activity and horsemanship, seemingly to display their superior prowess over a miserable captivé. The Moors are certainly very good horsemen. They ridé without fear ; their saddles, being high before and behind, afford them a very secure seat.; and if they chance to fall, the whole country is so soft and sandy, that they are very seldom hurt. Their greatest pride, aiid one of their principal amusements, is to put the horse to his full speed, and then stop him with a sudden jerk, so as frequently to bring him down upon his haunches. Ali always rode upon a milk-white horse, with its tail dyed red. He never walked, unless when, he went to say his prayers ; and even in the night, two or three horses were always kept ready saddled, at a little distance from his own tent. The Moors set a very high value upon their horses ; for it is by their superior fleetness that they are enabled to make so many predatory excursions into the Negro countries. .They feed them three or four times a day, and generally give them a large quantity of sweet milk in the evening, which the horses appear to relish very much. April 3d. This forenoon a child, which had been some time sickly, died in the next tent ; and the mother and relations immediately began the death howl. They were joined by a number of female visitors, who came on purpose to. assist at this melancholy concert. . I had no opportunity of seeing the burial, which is generally performed secretly, in the dusk of the evening, and frequently at only a few yards distance from the tent. Over the grave, they plant one particular shrub; and; no stranger is allowed to pluck a leaf, or even to touch i t ; so great a veneration have they for the dead. : April 7th. About four o’clock in the afternoon, a whirlwind passed through the camp, with such violence that it overturned three tents, and blew down one; side of my hut. These whirlwinds come' from the Great Desert, and, at this season of the year, are so common, that I have seen five or six of them at one time. They carry up quantities of sand to an amazing height, which resemble, at a distance, so many moving pillars of smoke. The scorching'heat of the;sun;upona dry and sandy country, makes the air insufferably hot. f Ali having robbed me of my thermometer, I had no means of forming a Comparative judgment; but in the middle of the day, whert the beams of the vertical' sumare seconded by the scorching, wind from the Desert, the ground is frequently heated to such a degree, as not to be borne by the naked fóot ;c.even the Negro: slaves; will not run from one tent to another, without their sandals. At this time of the day; the Moors lie stretched at length in their tents, either-asleep, or'unwilling to ;move ; and I have often felt the wind so hot, that I could not hold my hand in the current o f air which came through the crevices of my hut, without feeling sensible pain. April 8th.■ This day the wind blew; from the south-west, and in the night there was .a heavy shower of rain; accompanied with thunder andlightning. ‘ ‘ April ioth. In the evening the Tabala, or large drum, was


27f 60
To see the actual publication please follow the link above