with will not be ealily palled over either in Abyffinia o ra t
Sennaar. I.am neither fervant'-nor merchant ; and -it has
been your ill-luck to try your wkkedcxpe riments upon a
man like me, who never in his life carried much money a-
bout him, becaufe he never valued it.” .Moul. You muft
forget all, and I .will be your friend with the Shekh, fince!
•you coroe from-the flierriife o f Mecca.” And I, too, lays
the other, -for -the kindnefs you have Ihewed our brother
lfmael there, in carrying him home from among the Kafrs
o f Habeih; and if-Fidele cannot procure camels, we will
try and help h im ; fo go in .peace, and get ready,” '
W e had fcarce g o t rid o f this real danger, when the ap-
prehenfion o f an imaginary one ftruck us violently. The
water at Teawa is ftagnant in pools, and exceedingly: bad.
Either that, or the bouza, a kind o f new beer which they
fent us with our meat,-had given all o f us, at the fame time,
a violent diarrhoea, and.I was tormented with a perpetual
third ever fince we had been overtaken by the fimoom,;
and the bouza-being acid, was not only ; more agreeable,
but, I thought, relieved me more than bad w a te r ; in this,
therefore, I certainly had exceeded. When we foilnd we
were all taken ill at the.fame time, it came into our wife
heads that Sheklr Eidele had given us poifon in our dinner,
and we were'very much.perplexfed what we fliould do the
next day. None o f us, therefore, tafted the meat fent us.;
when at night, our friend, the black flave came, and to her
we fran k ly told our doubts. The poor creature fell into
fuch vio.lept fits,of laughing, which followed fo clofe the
one upon: the other, and lafted fo long, that I feared ihe
would have expired upon the fpot. “ It is the water, fays
ihe;. it does fo to all ftrangers;” and then fhe fell into another
other great fit o f laughter. “ Child, anfwered I, you
know the Shekh is not our friend, and there is no eafier
way to get rid of us than by poifon, as we eat everything
that comes from you without fear/ — “ And fo you may,
fays ihe ; the Shekh could do no fuch thing without
our knowledge, and we would rather all be burnt alive
than be gu ilty o f fo vile an afiion. Befides, fays ihe, this
i s not lik e Habeih, where both meat and drink, brought to -
you, are tafted by the bearer before you ufe them. There is
.no fuch thing as poifon in A thara; the lance and the knife
in the field, that is the manner in which they k ill one afi-
txher here.”.
W e then ihewed her our dinner uneaten, and ihe again
fe ll info a violent fit o f laughter, and took the meat away
that ihe might warm it, and we heard her laughing all the
way as ihe went by herfelf. She was not long in returning
with provifions in plenty, and told us, that her miftrefies
never were fo diverted in their lives, and that ihe left them
ftill laughing. T h e black Have then called m e to the door,
and gave me an India green handkerchief, which ihe faid
Aifcach had pulled from her head, and fent with her to me,
with orders to inquire, “ Do the w omen o f your country do
fuch things, Yagoube, which, for all the fathers and gold
in the world, Aifcach would not be gu ilty of? My father
is indeed a Funge *, but my mother is a J eha in at” .
N e i t h e r the Shekh nor Moullah expefted me out on
Sunday, which I. told them was my feftival,. I employed
V o l . IV. ' 3 D that
* Which means a flave, f A noble and free Arab'.