CHAP. VIII.
Conversation with the King—With Shekh Adelan—Interview with the
King's Ladies, &c. &c.
We were conducted by Adelan's servant to a very spacious good house belonging to the Shekh himself, having two storeys, a long quarter of a mile from the king's palace. He left a message for us to repose ourselves, and in a day or two to wait upon the king, and that he should send to tell us when we were to come to him. This we resolved to have complied with most exactly; but the very next morning, the 30th of April, there came a servant from the palace to summon us to wait upon the king, which we immediately obeyed. I took with me three servants, black Soliman, Ismael the Turk, and my Greek servant Michael. The palace covers a prodigious deal of ground. It is all of one storey, built of clay, and the floors of earth. The chambers through which we passed were all unfurnished, and seemed as if a great many of them had formerly been destined as barracks for soldiers, of whom I did not see above fifty on guard. The king was in a small room, not twenty feet square, to which we ascended by two short flights of narrow steps. The floor of the room was covered with broad square tiles; over it was laid a Persian carpet, and the walls hung with tapestry of the same country; the whole very well kept, and in good order.
The king was sitting upon a matress, laid on the ground, which was likewise covered with a Persian carpet, and round him was a number of cushions of Venetian cloth of gold. His dress did not correspond with this magnificence, for it was nothing but a large, loose shirt of Surat blue cotton cloth, which seemed not to differ from the same worn by his servants, except that, all round the edges of it, the seams were double-stitched with white silk, and likewise round the neck. His head was uncovered; he wore his own short black hair, and was as white in colour as an Arab. He seemed to be a man about thirty-four, his feet were bare, but covered by his shirt. He had a very plebeian countenance, on which was stamped no decided character; I should rather guess him to be a soft, timid, irresolute man. At my coming forward and kissing his hand, he looked at me for a minute as if undetermined what to say. He then asked for an Abyssinian interpreter, as there are many of these about the palace. I said to him in Arabic, "That I apprehended I understood as much of that language as would enable me to answer any question he had to put to me." Upon which he turned to the people that were with him, "Downright Arabic, indeed! You did not learn that language in Habesh?" said he to me. I answered, "No; I have been in Egypt, Turkey, and Arabia, where I learned it; but I have likewise often spoken it in Abyssinia, where Greek, Turkish, and several other languages, were used." He said, "Impossible! he did not think they knew any thing of languages, excepting their own, in Abyssinia."
There were sitting in the side of the room, opposite to him, four men dressed in white cotton shirts, with a white shaul covering their heads and part of their face, by which it was known they were religious men, or men of learning, or of the law. One of these answered the king's doubt of the Abyssinians knowledge in languages. "They have languages enough; and you know that Habesh is called the paradise of asses." During this conversation, I took the sherriffe of Mecca's letter, also one from the king of Abyssinia; I gave him the king's first, and then the sherriffe's. He took them both as I gave them, but laid aside the king's upon a cushion, till he had read the sherriffe's. After this he read the king's, and called immediately again for an Abyssinian interpreter; upon which I said nothing, supposing, perhaps, he might chuse to make him deliver some message to me in private, which he would not have his people hear. But it was pure confusion and absence of mind, for he never spoke a word to him when he came. "You are a physician and a soldier," says the king. "Both, in time of need," said I. "But the sherriffe's letter tells me also, that you are a nobleman in the service of a great king that they call Englise-man, who is master of all the Indies, and who has Mahometan as well as Christian subjects, and allows them all to be governed by their own laws."—"Though I never said so to the sherriffe, replied I, yet it is true; I am as noble as any individual in my nation, and am also servant to the greatest king now reigning upon earth, of whose dominions, it is likewise truly said, these Indies are but a small part."—"The greatest king! says he that spoke about the asses, you should not say that: You forgot the grand signior; there are four, Otman, Fersee, Bornow, and Habesh."—"I neither forgot the grand signior, nor do him wrong, replied I. What I have said, I have said."—"Kafrs and slaves! all of them, says Ismael; there is the Turk, the king of England, and the king of France; what kings are Bornow and the rest?—Kafrs."—"How comes it, says the king, you that are so noble and learned, that you know all things, all languages, and so brave that you fear no danger, but pass, with two or three old men, into such countries as this and Habesh, where Baady my father perished with an army? how comes it that you do not stay at home and enjoy yourself, eat, drink, take pleasure and rest, and not wander like a poor man, a prey to every danger?"—"You, Sir, I replied, may know some of this sort of men; certainly you do know them; for there are in your religion, as well as mine, men of learning, and those too of great rank and nobility, who, on account of sins they have committed, or vows they have made, renounce the world, its riches and pleasures: They lay down their nobility, and become humble and poor, so as often to be insulted by wicked and low men, not having the fear of God before their eyes."—"True, these are Dervish," said the other three men. "I am then one of these Dervish, said I, content with the bread that is given me, and bound for some years to travel in hardships and danger, doing all the good I can to poor and rich, serving every man, and hurting none." "Tybe! that is well," says the king. "And how long have you been travelling about?" adds one of the others. "Near twenty years," said I.—"You must be very young, says the king, to have committed so many sins, and so early; they must all have been with women?"—"Part of them, I suppose, were, replied I; but I did not say that I was one of those who travelled on account of their sins, but that there were some Dervishes that did so on account of their vows, and some to learn wisdom." He now made a sign, and a slave brought a cushion, which I would have refused, but he forced me to sit down upon it.
I found afterwards who the three men were who had joined in our conversation; the first was Ali Mogrebi, a native of Morocco, who was Cadi, or chief judge at Sennaar, and was then fallen into disgrace with the two brothers, Mahomet Abou Kalec, governor of Kordofan, and Shekh Adelan, prime minister at Sennaar, then encamped at Aira at the head of the horse and Nuba, levying the tax upon the Arabs as they went down, out of the limits of the rains, into the sandy countries below Atbara to protect their cattle from the fly. Another of these three was Cadi of Kordofan, in the interest of Mahomet Abou Kalec, and spy upon the king. The third was a saint in the neighbourhood, conservator of a large extent of ground, where great crops of dora not only grow, but when threshed out are likewise kept in large excavations called Matamores; the place they call Shaddly. This man was esteemed another Joseph among the Funge, who accumulated grain in years of plenty, that he might distribute it at small prices among the poor when scarcity came. He was held in very great reverence in the neighbourhood of Sennaar.
The cadi then asked me, "If I knew when Hagiuge Magiuge was to come?" Remembering my old learned friend at Teawa, I scarce could forbear laughing. "I have no wish to know any thing about him, said I; I hope those days are far off, and will not happen in my time." "What do your books say concerning him? (says he, affecting a great look of wisdom) Do they agree with ours?" "I don't know that, said I, till I hear what is written in your books." "Hagiuge Magiuge, says he, are little people, not so big as bees, or like the zimb, or fly of Sennaar, that come in great swarms out of the earth, aye, in multitudes that cannot be counted; two of their chiefs are to ride upon an ass, and every hair of that ass is to be a pipe, and every pipe is to play a different kind of music, and all that hear and follow them are carried to hell." "I know them not, said I, and, in the name of the Lord, I fear them not, were they twice as little as you say they are, and twice as numerous. I trust in God I shall never be so fond of music as to go to hell after an ass for all the tunes that he or they can play." The king laughed violently. I rose to go away, for I was heartily tired of the conversation. I whispered the Abyssinian servant in Amharic, to ask when I should bring a trifle I had to offer the king. He said, Not that night, as I should be tired, but desired that I should now go home, and he would send me notice when to come. I accordingly went away, and found a number of people in the street, all having some taunt or affronting matter to say. I passed through the great square before the palace, and could not help shuddering, upon reflection, at what had happened in that spot to the unfortunate M. du Roule and his companions, though under a protection which should have secured them from all danger, every part of which I was then unprovided with.
The drum beat a little after six o'clock in the evening. We then had a very comfortable dinner sent us, camels flesh stewed with an herb of a viscous slimy substance, called Bammia. After having dined, and finished the journal of the day, I fell to unpacking my instruments, the barometer and thermometer first, and, after having hung them up, was conversing with Adelan's servant when I should pay my visit to his master. About eight o'clock came a servant from the palace, telling me now was the time to bring the present to the king. I sorted the separate articles with all the speed I could, and we went directly to the palace. The king was then sitting in a large apartment, as far as I could guess, at some distance from the former. He was naked, but had several clothes lying upon his knee, and about him, and a servant was rubbing him over with very stinking butter or grease, with which his hair was dropping as if wet with water. Large as the room was, it could be smelled through the whole of it. The king asked me, If ever I greased myself as he did? I said, Very seldom, but fancied it would be very expensive. He then told me, That it was elephants grease, which made people strong, and preserved the skin very smooth. I said, I thought it very proper, but could not bear the smell of it, though my skin should turn as rough as an elephant's for the want of it. He said, "If I had used it, my hair would not have turned so red as it was, and that it would all become white presently when that redness came off. You may see the Arabs driven in here by the Daveina, and all their cattle taken from them, because they have no longer any grease for their hair. The sun first turns it red and then perfectly white; and you'll know them in the street by their hair being the colour of yours. As for the smell, you will see that cured presently."
After having rubbed him abundantly with grease, they brought a pretty large horn, and in it something scented, about as liquid as honey. It was plain that civet was a great part of the composition. The king went out at the door, I suppose into another room, and there two men deluged him over with pitchers of cold water, whilst, as I imagine, he was stark-naked. He then returned, and a slave anointed him with this sweet ointment; after which he sat down, as completely dressed, being just going to his women's apartment where he was to sup. I told him I wondered why he did not use rose-water as in Abyssinia, Arabia, and Cairo. He said, he had it often from Cairo, when the merchants arrived; but as it was now long since any came, his people could not make more, for the rose would not grow in his country, though the women made something like it of lemon-flower.
His toilet being finished, I then produced my present which I told him the king of Abyssinia had sent to him, hoping that, according to the faith and custom of nations, he would not only protect me while here, but send me safely and speedily out of his dominions into Egypt. He answered, There was a time when he could have done all this, and more, but those times were changed. Sennaar was in ruin, and was not like what it once was. He then ordered some perfumed sorbet to be brought for me to drink in his presence, which is a pledge that your person is in safety. I thereupon withdrew, and he went to his ladies.
It was not till the eighth of May I had my audience of Shekh Adelan at Aira, which is three miles and a half from Sennaar; we walked out early in the morning, for the greatest part of the way along the side of the Nile, which had no beauty, being totally divested of trees, the bottom foul and muddy, and the edges of the water white with small concretions of calcarious earth, which, with the bright sun upon them, dazzled and affected our eyes very much.
We then struck across a large sandy plain without trees or bushes, and came to Adelan's habitation; two or three, very considerable houses of one storey occupied the middle of a large square, each of whose sides was at least half of an English mile. Instead of a wall to inclose this square, was a high fence or impalement of strong reeds, canes, or stalks of dora, (I do not know which) in fascines strongly joined together by stakes and cords. On the outside of the gate, on each hand, were six houses of a slighter construction than the rest; close upon the fence were sheds where the soldiers lay, the horses picqueted before them with their heads turned towards the sheds, and their food laid before them on the ground; above each soldier's sleeping-place, covered only on the top and open in the sides, were hung a lance, a small oval shield, and a large broad-sword. These, I understood, were chiefly quarters for couriers, who being Arabs, were not taken into the court or square, but shut out at night.
Within the gate was a number of horses, with the soldiers barracks behind them; they were all picqueted in ranks, their faces to their masters barracks. It was one of the finest sights I ever saw of the kind. They were all above sixteen hands high, of the breed of the old Saracen horses, all finely made, and as strong as our coach-horses, but exceedingly nimble in their motion; rather thick and short in the forehand, but with the most beautiful eyes, ears, and heads in the world; they were mostly black, some of them black and white, some of them milk-white foaled, so not white by age, with white eyes and white hoofs, not perhaps a great recommendation.
A steel shirt of mail hung upon each man's quarters opposite to his horse, and by it an antelope's skin made soft like shamoy, with which it was covered from the dew of the night. A head-piece of copper, without crest or plumage, was suspended by a lace above the shirt of mail, and was the most picturesque part of the trophy. To these was added an enormous broad-sword in a red leather scabbard; and upon the pummel hung two thick gloves, not divided into fingers as ours, but like hedgers gloves, their fingers in one poke. They told me, that, within that inclosure at Aira, there were 400 horses, which, with the riders, and armour complete for each of them, were all the property of Shekh Adelan, every horseman being his slave, and bought with his money. There were five or six (I know not which) of these squares or inclosures, none of them half a mile from the other, which contained the king's horses, slaves, and servants. Whether they were all in as good order as Adelan's I cannot say, for I did not go further; but no body of horse could ever be more magnificently disposed under the direction of any Christian power.
Adelan was then sitting upon a piece of the trunk of a palm-tree, in the front of one of these divisions of his horses, which he seemed to be contemplating with pleasure; a number of black people, his own servants and friends, were standing around him. He had on a long drab-coloured camlet gown, lined with yellow sattin, and a camlet cap like a head piece, with two short points that covered his ears. This, it seems, was his dress when he rose early in the morning to visit his horses, which he never neglected. The Shekh was a man above six feet high, and rather corpulent, had a heavy walk, seemingly more from affectation of grandeur than want of agility. He was about sixty, of the colour and features of an Arab and not of a Negro, but had rather more beard than falls to the lot of people in this country; large piercing eyes, and a determined, tho', at the same time, a very pleasing countenance. Upon my coming near him he got up, "You that are a horseman, (says he, without any salutation) what would your king of Habesh give for these horses?"—"What king, answered I, in the same tone, would not give any price for such horses if he knew their value?"—"Well, replies he, in a lower voice, to the people about him, if we are forced to go to Habesh (as Baady was) we will carry our horses along with us." I understood by this he alluded to the issue of his approaching quarrel with the king.
We then went into a large saloon, hung round with mirrors and scarlet damask; in one of the longest sides, were two large sofas covered with crimson and yellow damask, and large cushions of cloth of gold, like to the king's. He now pulled off his camlet gown and cap, and remained in a crimson sattin coat reaching down below his knees, which lapped over at the breast, and was girt round his waist with a scarf or sash, in which he had stuck a short dagger in an ivory sheath, mounted with gold; and one of the largest and most beautiful amethysts upon his finger that ever I saw, mounted plain, without any diamonds, and a small gold ear-ring in one of his ears.
"Why have you come hither, says he to me, without arms, and on foot, and without attendants?" Yagoube. "I was told that horses were not kept at Sennaar, and brought none with me." Adelan. "You suppose you have come through great dangers, and so you have. But what do you think of me, who am day and night out in the fields, surrounded by hundreds and thousands of Arabs, all of whom would eat me alive if they dared?" I answered, "A brave man, used to command as you are, does not look to the number of his enemies, but to their abilities; a wolf does not fear ten thousand sheep more than he does one." Ad. "True; look out at the door; these are their chiefs whom I am now taxing, and I have brought them hither that they may judge from what they see whether I am ready for them or not." Yag. "You could not do more properly; but, as to my own affairs, I wait upon you from the king of Abyssinia, desiring safe conduct through your country into Egypt, with his royal promise, that he is ready to do the like for you again, or any other favour you may call upon him for." He took the letter and read it. Ad. "The king of Abyssinia may be assured I am always ready to do more for him than this. It is true, since the mad attempt upon Sennaar, and the next still madder, to replace old Baady upon the throne, we have had no formal peace, but neither are we at war. We understand one another as good neighbours ought to do; and what else is peace?" Yag. "You know I am a stranger and traveller, seeking my way home. I have nothing to do with peace or war between nations. All I beg is a safe conduct through your kingdom, and the rights of hospitality bestowed in such cases on every common stranger; and one of the favours I beg is, your acceptance of a small present. I bring it not from home; I have been long absent from thence, or it would have been better." Ad. "I'll not refuse it, but it is quite unnecessary. I have faults like other men, but to hurt, or ransom strangers, was never one of them. Mahomet Abou Kalec, my brother, is however a much better man to strangers than I am; you will be lucky if you meet him here; if not, I will do for you what I can when once the confusion of these Arabs is over."
I gave him the sherriffe's letter, which he opened, looked at, and laid by without reading, saying only, "Aye, Metical is a good man, he sometimes takes care of our people going to Mecca; for my part, I never was there, and probably never shall." I then presented my letter from Ali Bey to him. He placed it upon his knee, and gave a slap upon it with his open hand. Ad. "What! do you not know, have you not heard, Mahomet Abou Dahab, his Hasnadar, has rebelled against him, banished him out of Cairo, and now sits in his place? But don't be disconcerted at that, I know you to be a man of honour and prudence; if Mahomet, my brother, does not come, as soon as I can get leisure I will dispatch you." The servant that had conducted me to Sennaar, and was then with us, went forward close to him, and said, in a kind of whisper, "Should he go often to the king?"—"When he pleases; he may go to see the town, and take a walk, but never alone, and also to the palace, that, when he returns to his own country, he may report he saw a king at Sennaar, that neither knows how to govern, nor will suffer others to teach him; who knows not how to make war, and yet will not sit in peace." I then took my leave of him, but there was a plentiful breakfast in the other room, to which he sent us, and which went far to comfort Hagi Ismael for the misfortune of his patron Ali Bey. At going out, I took my leave by kissing his hand, which he submitted to without reluctance. "Shekh, said I, when I pass these Arabs in the square, I hope it will not disoblige you if I converse with some of them out of curiosity?" Ad. "By no means, as much as you please; but don't let them know where they can find you at Sennaar, or they will be in your house from morning till night, will eat up all your victuals, and then, in return, will cut your throat if they can meet you upon your journey."
I returned home to Sennaar, very well pleased with my reception at Aira. I had not seen, since I left Gondar, a man so open and frank in his manners, and who spoke without disguise what apparently he had in his heart; but he was exceedingly engaged in business, and it was of such extent that it seemed to me impossible to be brought to an end in a much longer time than I proposed staying at Sennaar. The distance, too, between Aira and that town was a very great discouragement to me. The whole way was covered with insolent, brutish people, so that every man we met between Sennaar and Aira produced some altercation, some demand of presents, gold, cloth, tobacco, and a variety of other disagreeable circumstances, which had always the appearance of ending in something serious.
I had a long conversation with the Arabs I met with at Aira, and from them I learned pretty nearly the situation of the different clans or tribes in Atbara. These were all in their way northward to the respective countries in the sands to the eastward of Mendera and Barbar. These sands, so barren and desolate the rest of the year, were beginning now to be crowded with multitudes of cattle and inhabitants. The fly, in the flat and fertile mold which composes all the soil to the southward of Sennaar, had forced this number of people to migrate, which they very well knew was to cost them at least one half of their substance; of such consequence is the weakest instrument in the hand of Providence. The troops of Sennaar, few in number, but well provided with every thing, stood ready to cut these people off from their access to the sands, till every chief of a tribe had given in a well-verified inventory of his whole stock, and made a composition, at passing, with Shekh Adelan.
All subterfuge was in vain. The fly, in possession of the fertile country, inexorably pursued every single camel till he took refuge in the sands, and there he was to stay till the rains ceased; and if, in the interim, it was discovered that any concealment of number or quality had been made, they were again to return in the beginning of September to their old pastures; and in this second passage, any fraud, whether real or alledged, was punished with great severity. Resistance 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 sacrifice to those troops, well mounted and armed, that awaited them in their way within sight of their own homes. Arrived once in the sands, they were quiet during the rains, having paid their passage northward, and so they were afterwards, for the same reason, when they came again to their own station, southward, when those rains had ceased.
It may be asked reasonably, What does the government of Sennaar do with that immense number of camels which they receive from all those tribes of Arabs in their passage by Sennaar? To this I answer, That all this tribute is not paid in kind. The different tribes possessing so many camels, or so many other cattle, have a quantum laid upon them at an average value. This is paid in gold, or in slaves, the rest in kind; so many for the maintenance of the king and government; for there is no flesh commonly used at Sennaar in the markets but that of camels. The residue is bought by the merchants of Dongola, and sent into Egypt, where they supply that great consumption of these animals made every year by the caravans going to Mecca.
One thing had made a very strong impression on me, which was the contemptuous manner in which Adelan expressed himself as to his sovereign. I was satisfied that, with some address, I could keep myself in favour with either of them; but in the terms they then were, or were very soon to be, I could not but fear I was likely to fall into trouble between the two.
The next morning, after I came home from Aira, I was agreeably surprised by a visit from Hagi Belal, to whom I had been recommended by Metical Aga, and to whom Ibrahim Seraff, the English broker at Jidda, had addressed me for any money I should need at Sennaar. He welcomed me with great kindness, and repeated testimonies of joy and wonder at my safe arrival. He had been down in Atbara at Gerri, or some villages near it, with merchandize, and had not yet seen the king since he came home, but gave me the very worst description possible of the country, insomuch that there seemed to be not a spot, but the one I then stood on, in which I was not in imminent danger of destruction, from a variety of independent causes, which it seemed not possibly in my power to avoid. He sent me in the evening some refreshments, which I had long been unaccustomed to; some tea, excellent coffee, some honey and brown sugar, several bottles of rack, likewise nutmegs, cinnamon, ginger, and some very good dates of the dry kind which he had brought from Atbara.
Hagi Belal was a native of Morocco. He had been at Cairo, and also at Jidda and Mocha. He knew the English well, and professed himself both obliged and attached to them. It was some days before I ventured to speak to him upon money business, or upon any probability of finding assistance here at Sennaar. He gave me little hopes of the latter, repeating to me what I very well knew about the disagreement of the king and Adelan. He seemed to place all his expectations, and those were but faint ones, in the coming of Shekh Abou Kalec from Kordofan. He said, nothing could be expected from Shekh Adelan without going to Aira, for that he would never trust himself in Sennaar, in this king's lifetime, but that the minister was absolute the moment he assembled his troops without the town.
One morning he came to me, after having been with the king, when I was myself preparing to go to the palace. He said, he had been sent for upon my account, and had been questioned very narrowly what sort of a man I was. Having answered very favourably, both of me and my nation, he was asked for Metical Aga's letters, or any other letters he had received concerning me from Jidda; he said, that he had only shewn Metical's letter, wrote in the name of the sherriffe, as also one from himself; that there were several great officers of government present; and the Cadi (whom I had seen the first time I had been with the king) had read the letters aloud to them all: That one of them had asked, How it came that such a man as I ventured to pass these deserts, with four or five old servants, and what it was I came to see; that he answered, he apprehended my chief object at Sennaar was to be forwarded to my own country. It was also asked, Why I had not some Englishmen with me, as none of my servants were of that nation, but poor beggarly Kopts, Arabs, and Turks, who were none of them of my religion? Belal answered, That travellers through these countries must take up with such people as they can find going the same way; however, he believed some English servants had died in Abyssinia, which country I had left the first opportunity that had offered, being wearied by the perpetual war which prevailed. Upon which the king said, "He has chosen well, when he came into this country for peace. You know, Hagi Belal, I can do nothing for him; there is nothing in my hands. I could easier get him back into Abyssinia than forward him into Egypt. Who is it now that can pass into Egypt?" The Cadi then said, "Hagi Belal can get him to Suakem, and so to Jidda to his countrymen." To which Belal replied, "The king will find some way when he thinks farther of it."
A few days after this I had a message from the palace. I found the king sitting alone, apparently much chagrined, and in ill-humour. He asked me, in a very peevish manner, "If I was not yet gone?" To which I answered, "Your Majesty knows that it is impossible for me to go a step from Sennaar without assistance from you." He again asked me, in the same tone as before, "How I could think of coming that way?" I said, "nobody imagined in Abyssinia but that he was able to give a stranger safe conduct through his own dominions." He made no reply, but nodded a sign for me to depart, which I immediately did, and so finished this short, but disagreeable interview.
About four o'clock that same afternoon I was again sent for to the palace, when the king told me that several of his wives were ill, and desired that I would give them my advice, which I promised to do without difficulty, as all acquaintance with the fair sex had hitherto been much to my advantage. I must confess, however, that calling these the fair sex is not preserving a precision in terms. I was admitted into a large square apartment very ill lighted, in which were about fifty women, all perfectly black, without any covering but a very narrow piece of cotton rag about their waists. While I was musing whether or not these all might be queens, or whether there was any queen among them, one of them took me by the hand and led me rudely enough into another apartment. This was much better lighted than the first. Upon a large bench, or sofa, covered with blue Surat cloth, sat three persons cloathed from the neck to the feet with blue cotton shirts.
One of these, who found was the favourite, was about six feet high, and corpulent beyond all proportion. She seemed to me, next to the elephant and rhinoceros, to be the largest living creature I had met with. Her features were perfectly like those of a Negro; a ring of gold passed through her under lip, and weighed it down, till, like a flap, it covered her chin, and left her teeth bare, which were very small and fine. The inside of her lip she had made black with antimony. Her ears reached down to her shoulders, and had the appearance of wings; she had in each of them a large ring of gold, somewhat smaller than a man's little finger, and about five inches diameter. The weight of these had drawn down the hole where her ear was pierced so much that three fingers might easily pass above the ring. She had a gold necklace, like what we used to call Esclavage, of several rows, one below another, to which were hung rows of sequins pierced. She had on her ancles two manacles of gold, larger than any I had ever seen upon the feet of felons, with which I could not conceive it was possible for her to walk, but afterwards I found they were hollow. The others were dressed pretty much in the same manner; only there was one that had chains which came from her ears to the outside of each nostril, where they were fastened. There was also a ring put thro' the gristle of her nose, and which hung down to the opening of her mouth. I think she must have breathed with great difficulty. It had altogether something of the appearance of a horse's bridle. Upon my coming near them, the eldest put her hand to her mouth and kissed it, saying, at the same time, in very vulgar Arabic, "Kifhalek howaja?" (how do you do, merchant). I never in my life was more pleased with distant salutations than at this time. I answered, "Peace be among you! I am a physician, and not a merchant."
I shall not entertain the reader with the multitude of their complaints; being a lady's physician, discretion and silence are my first duties. It is sufficient to say, that there was not one part of their whole bodies, inside and outside, in which some of them had not ailments. The three queens insisted upon being blooded, which desire I complied with, as it was an operation that required short attendance; but, upon producing the lancets, their hearts failed them. They then all cried out for the Tabange, which, in Arabic, means a pistol; but what they meant by this word was, the cupping instrument, which goes off with a spring like the snap of a pistol. I had two of these with me, but not at that time in my pocket. I sent my servant home, however, to bring one, and, that same evening, performed the operation upon the three queens with great success. The room was overflowed with an effusion of royal blood, and the whole ended with their insisting upon my giving them the instrument itself, which I was obliged to do, after cupping two of their slaves before them, who had no complaints, merely to shew them how the operation was to be performed.
Another night I was obliged to attend them, and gave the queens, and two or three of the great ladies, vomits. I will spare my reader the recital of so nauseous a scene. The ipecacuanha had great effect, and warm water was drunk very copiously. The patients were numerous, and the floor of the room received all the evacuations. It was most prodigiously hot, and the horrid, black figures, moaning and groaning with sickness all around me, gave me, I think, some slight idea of the punishment in the world below. My mortifications, however, did not stop here. I observed that, in coming into their presence, the queens were all covered with cotton shirts; but no sooner did their complaints make part of our conversation, than, to my utmost surprise, each of them, in her turn, stript herself entirely naked, laying her cotton shirt loosely on her lap as she sat cross-legged like a tailor. The custom of going naked in these warm countries abolishes all delicacy concerning it. I could not but observe that the breasts of each of them reached the length of their knees.
This exceeding confidence on their part, they thought merited some consideration on mine; and it was not without great astonishment that I heard the queen desire to see me in the like dishabille in which she had spontaneously put herself. The whole court of female attendants flocked to the spectacle. Refusal, or resistance, were in vain. I was surrounded with fifty or sixty women, all equal in stature and strength to myself. The whole of my cloathing was, like theirs, a long loose shirt of blue Surat cotton cloth, reaching from the neck down to the feet. The only terms I could possibly, and that with great difficulty, make for myself were, that they should be contented to strip me no farther than the shoulders and breast. Upon seeing the whiteness of my skin, they gave all a loud cry in token of dislike, and shuddered, seeming to consider it rather the effects of disease than natural. I think in my life I never felt so disagreeably. I have been in more than one battle, but surely I would joyfully have taken my chance again in any of them to have been freed from that examination. I could not help likewise reflecting, that, if the king had come in during this exhibition, the consequence would either have been impaling, or stripping off that skin whose colour they were so curious about; tho' I can solemnly declare there was not an idea in my breast, since ever I had the honour of seeing these royal beauties, that could have given his majesty of Sennaar the smallest reason for jealousy; and I believe the same may be said of the sentiments of the ladies in what regarded me. Ours was a mutual passion, but dangerous to no one concerned. I returned home with very different sensations from those I had felt after an interview with the beautiful Aiscach of Teawa. Indeed, it was impossible to be more chagrined at, or more disgusted with, my present situation than I was, and the more so, that my delivery from it appeared to be very distant, and the circumstances were more and more unfavourable every day.
An event happened which added to my distress. Going one evening to wait upon the king, and being already within the palace, passing through a number of rooms that are now totally deserted, where the court of guard used to be kept, I met Mahomet, the king's servant, who accompanied us from Teawa. Such people, though in reality often enough drunk, yet if they happen to be sober at the time of their committing a crime, counterfeit drunkenness, in order to avail themselves of it as an excuse. This fellow, seeing me alone, came staggering up to me, saying, "Damn you, Yagoube, I have met you now, pay me for the trouble of going for you to Teawa;" and with that he put his arm to lay hold of me by the breast. I said to him, "Off hands, you ruffian;" and, taking him by the arm, I gave him such a push that he had very near fallen backward; on which he cried out, in great fury, "Give me fifty patakas (about twelve guineas) or I'll ham-string you this instant." I had always pistols in my pocket for an extremity; but I could not consider this drunkard, though armed, to have reduced me to that situation; I therefore immediately closed upon him, and, catching him by the throat, gave him a violent wrench backward, which threw him upon the ground. I then took his sword out of his hand; and in the instant my black servant Soliman appeared, who had staid behind conversing with some acquaintance in the street. Several other black companions of this rascal likewise appeared; part seemed to defend, and part to intercede for him, but none to condemn him. Soliman, however, insisted upon carrying him before the king with his drawn sword in his hand. But how were we surprised, when the king's answer to our complaint was, "That the man was drunk, and that the people in that country were not used to see franks, like me, walking in the street." He then gave Soliman a sharp reproof for having the presumption, as he called it, to disarm one of his servants in his palace, and immediately ordered his sword to be restored him.
We were retiring full of thoughts what might be the occasion of this reception, when we were met by Kittou, Adelan's brother, who was left with the care of the town. I told the whole affair. He heard me very attentively, and with apparent concern. "It is all the king's fault; every slave does what he pleases, said he. If I mention this to Adelan, he will order the drunkard's head to be struck off before the palace-gate. But it is better for you that nothing of this kind happen while you are here. Mahomet Abou Kalec is daily expected, and all these things will be put upon another footing. In the mean time, keep at home as much as possible, and never go out without two or three black people along with you, servants, or others. While you are in my brother's house, as you now are, and we alive, there is no body dares molest you, and you are perfectly at liberty to refuse or admit any person you please, whether they come from the king or not, by only saying, Adelan forbids you. I will answer for the rest. The less you come here the better, and never venture into the street at night."
At this instant a message from the king called him in. I went away, better satisfied than before, because I now had learned there was a place in that town where I could remain in safety, and I was resolved there to await the arrival of Abou Kalec, to whom I looked up as to the means Providence was to use to free me from the designs the king was apparently meditating against me. I was more confirmed in the belief of these bad intentions, by a conversation he had with Hagi Belal, to whom he said, That he was very credibly informed I had along with me above 2000 ounces of gold, besides a quantity of silver, and rich embroideries from India, from which last place, and not from Cairo, I was come as a merchant, and not a physician. I resolved, therefore, to keep close at home, and to put into some form the observations that I had made upon this extraordinary government; a monarchy that had started up, as it were, in our days, and of which no traveller has as yet given the smallest account.