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from a leather bag that was fastened to the pommel of his saddle, and presenting it to me, snapped it twice. He did this with so much indifference, that I really doubted whether the pistol was loaded. He cocked it the third time, and was striking the flint with a piece of steel, when I begged them to desist, and returned with them to the camp.

When we entered Ali's tent, we found him much out of humour. He called for the Moor's pistol, and amused himself for some time with opening and shutting the pan. At length, taking up his powderhorn, he fresh charged it, and turning round to me with a menacing look, said something in Arabic which I did not understand. I desired my boy, who was sitting before the tent, to inquire what offence I had committed; when I was informed that having gone out of the tent without Ali's permission, they suspected that I had some design of making my escape; and that in future, if I was seen without the skirts of the camp, orders had been given that I should be shot by the first person who observed me.

MUNGO PARK AMONG THE MOORS.

PART III.

In the morning, a large herd of cattle arrived from the eastward; and one of the drivers, to whom Ali had lent my horse, came into my hut with the leg of an antelope as a present, and told me that my horse was standing before Ali's tent. In a short time, Ali sent one of his slaves to inform me that in the afternoon I must be in readiness to ride out with him, as he intended to show me to some of his women.

About four o'clock, Ali, with six of his courtiers,

came riding to my hut, and told me to follow them, which I readily did. We visited the tents of four different ladies, at every one of which I was presented with a bowl of milk and water. All these ladies were

remarkably corpulent, which is considered here as the highest mark of beauty. They were very inquisitive, and examined my hair and skin with great attention, but affected to consider me as a sort of inferior being to themselves, and would knit their brows and seem to shudder when they looked at the whiteness of my skin. In the course of this evening's excursion, my dress and appearance afforded infinite mirth to the company, who galloped round me as if they were baiting a wild animal, twirling their muskets round their heads, and exhibiting various feats of activity and horsemanship, seemingly to display their superior prowess over a miserable captive.

The Moors are certainly very good horsemen. They ride without fear. Their saddles being high before and behind, afford them a very secure seat; and if they chance to fall, the whole country is so soft and sandy that they are seldom hurt. Their greatest pride, and one of their principal amusements, is to put the horse to his full speed, and then stop him with a sudden jerk, so as frequently to bring him down upon his haunches. Ali always rode upon a milk-white horse, with its tail dyed red. He never walked unless he went to say his prayers; and even in the night two or three horses were always kept ready saddled at a short distance from his tent. The Moors set a very high value on their horses, for it is by their superior swiftness that they are enabled to make so many incursions into the negro countries. They feed them three or four times a day, and generally give them a large quantity of

sweet milk in the evening, which the horses appear to relish very much.

In the morning, a child, which had been somewhat sickly, died in the next tent, and the mother and relations immediately began the death-howl. They were joined by a number of female visitors, who came on purpose to assist at this melancholy concert. I had no opportunity of seeing the burial, which is generally performed secretly in the dusk of the evening, at only a few yards' distance from the tent. Over the grave they plant one particular shrub, and no stranger is allowed to pluck a leaf, or even to touch it, so great a veneration have they for their dead.

About four o'clock in the afternoon, a whirlwind passed through the camp with such violence, that it overturned three tents, and blew down one side of my hut. These whirlwinds come down from the great desert of Sahara, and at this season of the year are so common, that I have seen five or six of them at one time. They carry up quantities of sand to an amazing height, which resemble at a distance so many moving pillars of smoke.

In the evening, the tabala, or large drum, was beaten to announce a wedding, which was held in one of the neighbouring tents. A great number of people of both sexes assembled, but without that mirth and hilarity which takes place at a negro wedding. Here was

neither singing nor dancing, nor any other amusement that I could perceive. A woman was beating the drum, and the other women joining at times like a chorus by setting up a shrill scream, and at the same time moving their tongues from one side of their mouths to the other with great swiftness. I was soon tired, and had returned into my hut, where I was sitting

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almost asleep, when an old woman entered with a wooden bowl in her hand, and signified that she had brought me a present from the bride. Before I could recover from the surprise which this message created, the woman discharged the contents of the bowl full in my face. Finding that it was the same sort of holy water with which, among the Hottentots, a priest is said to sprinkle a new married couple, I began to suspect that the old lady was actuated by mischief or malice. But she gave me seriously to understand that it was a nuptial blessing from the bride's own person, which on such occasions is always received by the young unmarried Moors as a mark of special favour. This being the case, I wiped my face and sent my thanks to the lady.

One whole month had now elapsed since I was led into captivity, during which time each succeeding day brought me fresh distresses. I watched the lingering course of the sun with anxiety, and blessed his evening beams as they shed a yellow lustre along the sandy floor of my hut; for it was then that my oppressors left me, and allowed me to pass the sultry night in solitude and reflection.

Time, however, somewhat reconciled me to my situation. I found that I could bear hunger and thirst better than I expected; and at length I endeavoured to beguile the tedious hours by learning to write Arabic. The people who came to see me soon made me acquainted with the alphabet; and I discovered that by engaging their attention in this way, they were not so troublesome as otherwise they would have been. Indeed, when I observed any person whose countenance, I imagined, bore malice towards me, I made it a rule to ask him either to write in the sand

himself, or to decipher what I had already written; and the pride of showing his superior attainments generally induced him to comply with my request.

The heat was now almost unbearable: all nature seemed sinking under it. The distant country presented to the eye a dreary expanse of sand, with a few stunted trees and prickly bushes, in the shade of which the hungry cattle licked up the withered grass, while the camels and goats picked off the scanty foliage. The scarcity of water was greater here than at Benowm. Day and night the wells were crowded with cattle, lowing and fighting with each other to come to the troughs. Excessive thirst made many of them furious; others being too weak to contend for the water, endeavoured to quench their thirst by swallowing the black mud from the gutters near the wells, which they did with great avidity, though it was commonly fatal to them.

Shortly after, I waited upon Ali, to pay my respects to Queen Fatima, who had come with him from Saheel. He seemed much pleased with my coming, shook hands with me, and informed his wife that I was the Christian. Fatima was a woman of the Arab caste, with long black hair, and remarkably corpulent. She appeared at first rather shocked at the thought of having a Christian so near her; but when I had answered a great many questions which her curiosity suggested, respecting the country of the Christiane, she seemed more at ease, and presented me with a bowl of milk, which I considered as a very favourable sign.

The Moors have singular ideas of female beauty. With them corpulence and beauty mean pretty nearly the same thing. A woman of even moderate preten

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