war, upon which he immediately difmounted, and, upon
feeing this, I alighted likewife. We faluted one another
very courteoufly. He was a man about feventy, with a
very long beard, and o f a very graceful appearance. It was
with the utmoft difficulty I could prevail upon him to mount
his horfe, as he declared his intention was to w alk by the
fide o f m y mûle u ff 'h e entered thé town o fTe awa . This
being over-ruled, b y an invincible obftinacy on my part, he
was at laft conftrained to mount on horfeback, which h e
did with an agility only to be expefted from a young man
o f twenty.
Being mounted, he ihewed us a variety o f paces on horfe-
back. All this, too, waS counted à humiliation and polite-
nefs on his part, as playing tricks, and prancing on horfeback,
is never done but by ybung men before their elders,,
or by fneane f peopib before their fuperiors. We palled by
a very commodious houfe, where he ordered my fervants-
to unload m y baggage, that being the refidence âffigried
fo f'm e b y the Shekh. He and I, with Soliman on foot by
the fide o f m y :muléj croflêd an open fpaëe o f about five
hundred ÿatcfs, Where thé market is kept ; he protefted a
thoufand times b y the way,-what a fliame it was to him to
appear on horfeback, when a great man like me was riding
on a mule.
'A l i t t l e after, having palTed this fquare, we came to the-
Shekh’s houfè, or rather a colledtion o f houfes, one ftorey
high, built with canes ; near the ftreét, at entering, there
was a large ha ll o f unburnt brick, to which we afcended
by fo u r or five fleps1. The hall was a very decent one, covered
with ftraw-mats ; and there was in the middle o f it,
a chair,
sr chair*, underftood to be the place o f the grand fignior.
The Shekh himfelf was fitting on the ground for humility’s
fake,-reading the Koran, or pretending to read it. At our
entry he-feemed to-be furprifed, and made an attempt as
i f to rife up, which immediately I prevented h im from doing,
holding h im down b y the hand, which I kifled.
1 I s h a l l not fatigue the reader with the uninterefting
converfation that pafled at this firft interview. He affeft-
ed to admire my fize and apparent firength, introduced
feme loole hints about Abyffinian women; and, in general,
pretended to blame me for expofing m y fe lf to travel
in fuch a country- In return,. I complained o f the extreme
fatigue o f the journey and heat, the beafis o f prey,
the thick woods without ffiade, the want o f water, and;,
above all, the poifonous blafts o f the fimoom that had ah
moft overcome' m e , the effefts. o f which I was at that in -
fiant feeling-
He then blamed himfelf very politely, in a manner natural
to the Arabs, for having fuffered me to come to him
before I had repofed myfelf, which he excufed by his defire
- feeing fo gpcat a man as me— He faid- alio, that he
would detain me no lo n g e r ; bid me reppfe a day or two
in quiet and in fafety -, and, upon my riling to go away, he
got up lik ew ife , and holding me by the hand, faid, “ The
greateft
* It. is the cuftoto, in all places-v/here the governor iaihveftedtwitK fupreme power, to
have an arm-chair left empty in the middle of the hall where juftice is adminiftered,, w h isk
reprefents the fovereign, and to which obeifanc© is- ibade.