-or robe, for himfelf. “ He is a poor wretch, fays the Shekh
o f B e y la ; he has fpent two years o f the k in g ’s revenues
from Atbara, and nobody has fupported him except Shekh
Adelan, whofe daughter he married, but .he- now has
given him up fince he has fu lly known him ; and, i f our
. trophies-do not follow quickly, Ifuppofe one o f thefe days
I fbalbhave him here in .his. way. to Sennaar, never .to re--
turn ; fo r everybody knows now that it was in hatred to
him, and for the many faithlefs and bad adfcions lie was
g u ilty of, that the Arabs have deftroyed all that part o f
the country, , though they have not burnt a ftraw about
Beyla.”
We had again a la rg e and plen tiful dinner, and a quantity
o f bouza; venifon o f feveral different fpecies o f the
aptelope or deer-kind, and-Guinea-fowls, boiled with rice,
the bell .part o f our fare, for the venifon fmelled and tailed
ilrongly o fm u ik . This was the provifion, made by the
.Shekh’s two fons, boys about fourteen or fifteen years old,
who had got each o f them a gun with a match-lock and'
■whofe favour Ifecured to a very high degree, by giving
- them fome good gunpowder, and plenty o f fmall leaden
bullets.
I n the afternoon w e walked out to fee the .village,
w h ich is a very pleafant one, fituated upon the bottom o f ’
a hill, covered with wood, all the reft flat before it.
Through this plain there are many large timber, trees,
planted in rows, and joined with high hedges, aS in -Europe,
forming inclofures for keeping cattle ; but o f the fe ,
w e faw none, as they had been moved to the Dender for
fea r o f the flies. There is no water at Beyla but what is
4 got
got from deep wells. Large plantations o f Indian corn
aie everywhere about the town. The inhabitants are in continual
apprehenfion from the Arabs Daveina at"Sim Sim,,
about 40 miles fouth-eaft from them ; and from another
powerful race called Wed abd’el Gin, i.e . tfoti'oftfrejlavesof
the Devil, who live tfr the fóuth-w eft'of them, between the
Dender and the Nile. Beyla is another frontier town o f '
Sennaar, on the fide o f Sim Sim ; and between Teawa and
this, on the Sennaar fide, and Ras el Feel, Nara, and Tchelga; .
upon the Abyffinian fide, all is defert and wafie, the Arabs
only fuffering the water to remain there without villages
near it, that they and their flocks may come at certain
feafons while the grais grows, and the pools or fprings filli
elfcwlxere..
AfiTHOtfGH T'went early to bed'wifh" frill determination »
to fet Out by day-break, yet I found it was impoflible to put '
my défign in execution; or get from thè hands o f our kind;
landlord. One o f ourgirbas feemed to fail, and needed to-
be repaired. Nothing good, as he truly laid, could come -
from the Shekh o f Atbara- A violent difpute had arifen in
the evening, after I was gone to bed, over their bouza, between
the king’ s fervant and that o f Shekh Adrian. It Was ■
about dividing their fees-which they had received from Shekh <
Fidele.. This was carried a great length, and it was at laft a-
greed that it ihould be determined by the Shekh o f Beyla in
the mornihg, when both o f them, as might be fuppoféd, .
fhould have cooler heads. For my part, I took no thought-
o r concern about it, as no circumftance o f its origin hadi
been notified to me ; b u t it took up fo much o f - our time;«
that it was after dinner before we were ready,
Qn