and I agree, and though I have lived many years with peo-
Ple o f your religion o f all ranks, yet I am far from knowing
what" are the manners o f Atbara; what will offend you or
them, or what not ; for, as I have no view but your good
and theirs, I would not expofe myfelf to any ill ufage to
which a miftake o f your cuftoms may fubject me. In fhort,
I muft a lk thefe ladies a number o f queftions, which, i f you
choofe to hear, you may, but no perfoo elfe muft, as is the
cuftom o f m y country.” “ What has he to do with'us and
our phyfician ? faid the eldeft o f the two; all his bufinefs is
to pay you money when you have made us well.” “ What
would become o f him, fays Adelan’s daughter, i f we were
to be ill ? he would ftarve for want o f people to make ready
his-meat.”— Aye, and his drink too, fays the other, which
he is fonder o f than his meat.”— “ No, no, fays Shekh Eidele,
in perfeft good humour, we kn ow you, Hakim ; you are
not like us ; afk them ah the queftions you pleafe, I neither
wifh nor intend to hear th em ; I hear too much o f them
every day againft my will, and only wifh to God you would
cure them or make them dumb altogether, and then they
will not teaze me with their illnefs any longer; a- fick woman
is plague fuflicient for a devil.”— “ Then, clear the
room, faid I, in the firft place, o f all thefe idle women-fer-
vants; only leave two or three o f the fteadieft flaves to ferve’
their miftreffes.” He did not feem at a lofs how to do this,
for he took up a fhort whip, or fwitch, which lay at hand[
and happy were they who got firft to the door. I faw among'
thefe a genteel female figure, covered from head to foot,
whom Fidele pulled in with his hand, after he had pufhed'
the others out o f the door, faying, “ Come in, Aifcach ;” and
immediately after this he went away.
ï Wits very fenfible that I was playing a farce,iipon which,
a very great deal depended. Thotxgh in thefe .countries
the daughters o f minifters and great men are given to inferiors;
this is only with, a View o f having theita provided
fo r ; they are fpies, upon thèir. hufbands, and k e ep up
the: epnfequérice- of, theiri birth in their hufbdnd’s houfe
even after they are inarried; and this I underftpod was
preéifely the ca fe 'w ith Adelan’s daughter. Notwithftand-
in g .the bad character I had o f fidele,: I knew he durft
not rob me, without murdering me àlfo.; and X was .fure
he did not dare to do either, i f it was once known that I
was arrived in the dominions o f Sennaar ; and this his
w ife could inform, Adélàri he r father o f, whenever fhe pleafed.
This was then the firft ftep towards fafety.
I sHAur. not trouble my reader with a repetition o f my
medical inquiries, nor the complaints o f ladies, which
are properly fecrets with me, though at the diftancè o f At-
bara. The ipecacuanha: operation gave high fatisfaction.
It was now happily terminated ; but,: whilft it was admi-
niftering, I obfefVed the figure, who till- then appeared covered,
had unveiled her face and head down to her ihoul-
ders ; and foon after one o f the flaves, her attendant, as in
play, pulled off the remaining part o f the Veil that covered
her, I was aftoniihed at the fight o f fo much beauty.
Her hair, which was not woolly, but long; and in great
quantity, was braided and twifted round like a crown upon
the top o f her head, ornamented with beads, and the
fmall white Guinea-fhells, Commonly kn own here by the
name o f blackamoor’s teeth. She had plain rings o f
gold in her ears, and four rows o f gold chain about her
neck, to which was hung a number o f fequins pierced ;
V ol IV. 3 A the