e f any robberies or mutinous diforders, declaring always
for the mailer, that is, the great one fet over them. There
is no running water in all rhat immenfe plain they inhabit,
it is all procured from draw-wells. We faw them,
eleaning one, which I meafured, and was nearly eight fathoms
deep. In a climate fo violently hot as this, there is
very little meed of fuel, neither have they any, there
being no turf, or any thing refembling it, in the country,
no wood, not even a tree, iince we had palled the river
Dender. However, they never eat their meat raw
as in Abyflinia; but with the ftalk o f the dora, or millet,
and the-dung o f camels, they make ovens under ground,
in which they roaft their -hogs whole, in a very cleanly,
and not difagreeable manner, keeping the Ikins on till
they are perfectly baked. They had neither flint nor fteel
wherewith to light .their fire a t firft, but do it in a manner
ftill more expeditious, by taking a fmall piece o f flick, and
makin g a iharp point to it, which they hold perpendicular,
and then make a fmall hole o f nearly the fame fize in another
piece o f flick, which they lay ho rizon ta l; they
put the one within the other, and, between their two
hands, they-turn .the perpendicular flick, (in the fame manner
that w e do a chocolate mill) when both thefe flicks
take fire, and flame in a moment upon the fr ift io n ; fo
perfectly dry and prepared is everything here upon the
furface to take fire, notwithftanding they are every year
fubjeft to fix months rain.
On the 2jth, at four o’clock in the afternoon w e fet out
from the villages o f the Nuba, intending to arrive at Baf-
boch, where is the ferry over the Nile ; but we had fcarcely
advanced two miles into the plain, when we were inclofed
2 by
By à violent whirlwind, or what' is called at fea thé water-
ipout. The plain was red earth, which had been plentifully
moiftened by a iliower in the night-time. The unfortunate
camel that had been taken by the Cohala feemed to be
nearly in the center o f its vortex. It was lifced and-thrown
down at a confiderable diftanee, and lè v e ra i o f its ribs bro-
ken. Although, as far as I could guefs, I was not near the *
center, it whirled me off-my-feet, and threw me down upon
my face, fo as to make my nofe gu£h out with-blood. Two
o f the fervants likewife had the fame fate. It plaiftered us
all over with mud, almoil as fmOothly as. could have been
done with a trowel, It took away my fenfe and breathing
for an inftantr and my mouth and nofe were full o f mud
w h en . L recovered. I guefs the fphere o f its aélion-to be
about 200 feet. It demoliihed one ha lf o f a fmâll hu t as i f
it had been cut through with a knife, and difperfed the materials
all over the plain, leaving the o ther-half Handing,
As foon as we recovered'ourfelves, we took refuge in a-
village, from fear only, for we faw, no veftige o f any other
whirlwind. It involved a great quantity o f rain, which
the Nuba o f the villages told us was very fortunate, and portended,
good luck toms, and a profperous journey ; fo r they
faidjithat-had dull and fand arifen with the whirlwind; in
the fame proportion it-would have done had-not the earth
been moiftened,' we ihould all infallibly-have been fuf-
foeated ; and they cautioned us; by faying, that tem-
pefts were very frequent in the beginning and end o f the
rainy feafon, and whenever we ihould fee-one o f them coming,
to fa ll down upon our faces, keeping our lips clofe
to -the ground, and fo let it-pais- ; and thus it would neither '
havee