not how to make war, and yet w ill not fit in peace.” I
then took my leave o f him, but there was a plentiful break-
faft in the other room, to which he fent us, and which
went far to comfort Hagi Ifmael for the misfortune o f his
patron Ali Bey. At goin g out, I took my leave by killing
his hand, w h ich -h e fubmitted to without reluctance.
“ Shekh, faid I, when I pafs thefe Arabs in the fquare, I
hope it w ill not difoblige you i f I converfe with fbme o f
them out o f curiofity ?” Ad. “ By no means, as much as
you pleafe ; but don’t let them know where they, can find
you at Serinaar, or they will be in your houfe from morn-'
in g till night, w ill eat up all your victuals, and then, in
Teturn, w ill cut your throat i f they cari mèet you upon
your journey.”
I .r e t u r n e d home to Sennaar, very well pleafed with- m y
reception at Aira. I had not feen, fince I left Gondar, a
man fo open and frank in his manners, and who fpoke
without difguife what apparently he-had in his heart;! but
he was exceedingly engaged in bufinefs, and it was o f fuch
extent that it feemed to me impollible to be brought to
an end in a much longer time than I prbpofed flaying at
Sennaar. The diftance, too, between Aira and that town
was a very- great difcouragement to me. The whole way
was covered with infolent, brutifh people, fo that every
man we met between Sennaar and Aira produced fome altercation,
fome demand o f prefents, gold, cloth, tobacco,
and a variety o f other difagreeable circumftances, which
had always the appearance o f ending in fomething fe-
rious.
I H A S
I h a d a long converfation with the Arabs I met with at
Aira, and from them I learned pretty nearly the fituation
o f the different clans or tribes in. Atbara. Thefe were all in
their way northward to the refpeCtive countries in the fands
to the eaftward o f Mendera and Barbar. Thefe fands, fo
barren and defolate the reft o f the year, were beginning
n ow to be crowded with multitudes ’o f cattle and inhabitants.
The fly, in the flat and fertile mold which compofes
a ll the foil to the fotithward o f Sennaar, had forced this
-number o f people to migrate, which they very well knew
was to coft them at leaftone h a lf o f their fubftatice ; o f fuch
cbnfequence is the weakeft inftrument in the hand o f Providence.
The troops o f Sennaar, few in number, but well
provided with every thing, flood ready to cut thefe people
o ff from their accefs to the fands, till every chief o f a tribe
had given in a well-verified inventory o f his whole ftock,
and made a compofition, at palling, w ith Shekh Adelan.
A x l fubterfuge was in vain. The fly, in pofieflion o f the
fertile country, inexorably purfued every fingle camel till h e
•took refuge in the fands, and there he was to flay till the
rains ceafed ; and if, in the interim, it was difcovered that
■any concealment o f number or quality had been made; they
were again to return in the beginning o f September to their
old paftures; and in this fecond pafiage, any fraud, whether
real or alledged, was puniflied with great feverity. Refift-
ance had been often tried, and as often found ineffectual.
However great their numbers, encumbered with families
and baggage as they were,' they had always fallen a facri-
fice to thofe troops, well mounted and armed, that awaited
them in their way within fight o f their own homes. Ar-
3 K 2 rived