were not much pleafed with the k in g ’s fervant going before,
as we had every reafon to think he was difaffeéted towards
us.
On the 26th, at fix o'clock in the morning, we fet out
from this village o f Nuba, keeping fomething to the weft-
ward o f S. W. our way being ftill acrofs this immenfe plain.
A ll the morning there were terrible ftorms o f thunder and
lightning, fome rain, and one fhower o f fo large drops
that it wet us to the ikin in an inftant. It was quite
calm, and every drop fell perpendicularly upon us. I think
I never in my life felt fo cold a rain, yet it was not difa-
greeable ; for the day was clofe and hot, and we ihould
have wifhed every now and then to have had fo modérate
a refrigeration; this, howevef, was rather too abundant.
The villages o f the Nuba were, on all fides,. throughout'this
plain. At nine o’clock we arrived at Baíbóch, which is a
large colleétion o f huts o f thefe people, and has the appearance
o f a; town.
T he governor, a venerable old man o f about íévenry, who’ -
was lo feeble that he could fcarcely walk,, received us with
great complacency, only faying, when I took him by the
hand, “ O Chriftian I what doit thou, at fuch a time,Lift;
fuch a country?” I was furprifed at the politenefs o f his
fpeech, when he called me Nazarani, the civil term fo r
Chriftian in tire e aft; whereas Infidel is the general terra
among thefe brutifh people; but it feems* he had been fe- Í
veral times at Cairo. I had here a very clean and comfortable
hut to lodge in,, though we were fparingly fupplied
with provifions all the time we were there, but never were
fullered to fail a whole day together.
, B a s b o c b
TiAStocH is on the eaftern bank o f the Nile, not a quarter
o f a mile from the ford below. The river here runs north
and fouth ; towards the fides it is ihallow, but deep in the
middle o f the current, and in this part it is much infeiled
with crocodiles. Sennaar is two miles and a h a lf £>. S. W. o f it.
We heard the evening drum very diftiniSUyy and mot without
anxiety, when we refledtedto what a b rutilh people, according
to all accounts, we were about to truft ourfelves.'
The village o f Aira, wbere the vizir Adelan had then
his quarters, was three miles fouth and by weft.
Next morning, the 2-th, Shekh Adelan s fervant left us
to the charge o f the Nuba, to give his mailer an account
o f his journey, and our fafe arrival. He found Mahomet,
the. kin g’s, fervant, our other guide, before him there, and
Adelan well informed o f all that had paired relating to Fi-
dele, though not from Mahomet; for as foon as he began
jq mention that he had found us at TeawU, Adelan faid in a
yery angry ftile,** W ill no one fave me the difgrace o f hangin
g that wretch ?” Adelan Tent back his,fervant to inform
us that, two days, afterwards, we ihould be admitted. Mahomet,
the, k in g ’s fervant, too, Came back with him, and
ftaid till the evening; then he returned to Sennaar; but
he did not give us the fatisfa<5lion to tell us one word o f
what the k in g had faid. to him about u s , or how we
were like ly to be received, leaving us, altogether in fuf-
¡pence. .
On the 29th, leave was fent us to enter Sennaar. It was
not without fome diflficulty that we got our quadrant and
heavy baggage fafely carried down the hill, for the banks,
are very fteep to the edge o f the water. The intention o f
3 H a our