great willingnefs, the office o f that night for me. I w en t
to bed, and fell prefently into a profound fleep, from w h ich
I was awakened, a little before midnight, by a meffage
from the ladies, my patients, in the Shekh’s houfe, fe n tb y
the black Have that had fpoken in. the Abyffinian language
to me while I was attending her iniftrels. They advifed
me to be upon my guard, for the Shekh was abfolutely
resolved to take a fevere revenge upon us all : That after
we had left him that evening, an exprefs arrived from the
lower part o f Atbara, giv ing him an account that Shekh
Ibrahim, a great man at Sennaar, and- favourite o f Adelan:
the prime minifter, while he was employed in gathering
the taxes from* the Arabs, had'fought w ith the tribe calledr.
Shukorea*, fomewhere eaft o f Sennaar t. that he had been,
completely beaten, and many o f his people killed ; as alfo,,
that Shekh Ibrahim and his two Tons were wounded ; that :
SSekh Fidele had immediately fent back word, that he had!
then with him a furgeon and phyfician, meaning me, who
could, upon occafion, even bring a dead man to life, but that-
L would;never confent to; come to-.him-unlefs I was forced j;
therefore, i f he w ould difpatch a fufficient number o f armed,
men, to help him t© furprife me in the night, he would cond
u it the execution o f that feheme^and would fend me to him
in irons. He faid I was an infidel, a white man from Abyf--'
finia, and'had feveral. flout people with; me expert in firearms,
(of which I had a. number,) who would be o f great u fe -
to him in fubduing the Arabs.. They affined me, however,,
o f their friendihip, and-begged me to confider what I had:
to do in time, for many wild men would be poured in upon,
me, who would not fail to k ill m e i f I refifled.
4t I R E T U R N E E )
T r e t u r n e d my moft humble thanks to my kind informants
; with a fmall gratification o f civet to the two elder
ladies, and a feparate portion to the beautiful Aifcach, af-
furing them I fliould not fail to profit b y any advice they
fliould give me. After this I again fell into a found fleep,
which continued till morning ; and, though my affairs had
not the moft profperous appearance, I felt a calmnefis o f
mind to which I had been utterly a ftranger ever fince I
had left Ras el Feel. My fervants awakened me in the
morning o f the 11th j I drank' coffee, and drefled, and
took along with me Soliman and Ifmael, without arms in
our hands, but having knives and piftols in our girdles, to
Ihew that we had lived in fear.
The Moullah’s name was Welled Meftah, or the fin of
interpretation, or explanation. He was reputed to have attained
fuch a degree o f holinefs as to work miracles, and,
•more than once in his life, to have been honoured with
the conveffation o f angels and fpirits, and, at times, to have
called the' devil into his prefence, and reproved him. He
was a man below the-middle fize, o f a very dark complexion,
and thin beard, feemingly paft fixty, hollow-eyed,
and very much emaciated. I f holy, we could not fay he
Was the beauty o f holinefs. I underftood, afterwards, he,
was much addifted to the ufe o f opium, to the effe&s o f
which he probably was indebted for his coiiveriation with
fpirits. He had brought with him another faint, much
younger and robufter than himfelf, who had been feveral
times at Mecca, and had feen Metical Aga, but did not
know him. He had feen likewife the Englifh fliips at Jidda,
and know the name o f the nation, but nothing more.
He was a flierriffe, (that Is, a defcendant o f Mahomet) a de-
,3 C a ' 4aree