journey. As fellow travellers I like you well; nor could I desire better. I have told you what I am. Inform me, therefore, what are ye, and whither is your journey?'

'We are merchants of the Moors of Tarabboloos (Tripoli), settled in the Fayoom at the village of Beni Aali, near the Birket el Qurn. My name is Hajji Mohammed, and my brother's name is Hajji Aali-our root (family name) is Eledgham. Our journey is to Kordofan, and our enterprise to traffic in teeth and feathers.'*

'How many days' journey distant is Kordofan?

'We proceed by this boat to Wady Halfeh. If it please Allah to give us a fair wind, which we are now awaiting, swiftly. If the boat has to be tracked by the sailors, slowly. From Wady Halfeh to Dongola there are ten days of desert. Please heaven, we may find camels with expedition; if not, there will be delay. From Dongola we proceed again by boat; and, further up the river, take camels again; and, after fifteen days of desert, we shall arrive, please Allah,

at Kordofan.'

'How long will your stay be in Kordofan?'

'Till we have sold our merchandize, by the permission of God, and laid out its price in teeth and feathers.'

'Have you made previous expeditions?'

'Frequently.'

'How many days did they occupy generally from this place thither and back?

'Various. Sometimes ninety, sometimes a hundred and twenty days.'

I know not whether for so extended a journey my means be adequate.'

'What are thy means? 'About a thousand piastres of Egypt (ten pounds).'

It suffices with redundance, if thou livest with us and as we. Thou canst purchase a horse and a slave, and withal have somewhat to lay out in teeth and feathers.'

The American's dragoman would have charged me two or three times as much for my simple trip down to Cairo, which return trip by the merchant was reckoned in, as a mere accessory trifle of the wonderful things this ten pounds in hard cash was to do. It seemed too good an opportunity for a cheap and curious adventure to be thrown away. I did not much care, as long as I got away from the island, whether I went up or down the river, and I had a desire to see Abou Simbel.

'Is it not late for your expedition! Will not the rainy season of the south overtake you at Kordofan? 'It may, or it may not. lt depends on the market, whether dealing be easy or difficult.'

If the rainy season overtake us, do not white men die of fever? Here Hajji Aali, the younger brother, took up his parable.

'They die frequently, but frequently recover. I was near death by fever in Kordofan one voyage, so that I could not travel, and waited to return home with the expedition of the following year."

There was evidently no desire to make things suspiciously pleasant, or I might have feared bad faith. And as adventures cannot be had without some risk, I said—

'It is well. I will become your travelling companion.'

'In deed or in word only? said Hajji Mohammed somewhat incredulously.

'The word and deed of an Englishman are one.'

Hast thou no fear of us, thou being a Frank and we Moslems?

'Why should I fear? There are bad and good of all creeds. I have looked at you with my eyes and have heard you with my ears. I find in your faces and behaviour the tokens of brotherhood, and in your words the sound of truth. If you promise to deal with me fairly as men and brothers, I am not afraid to trust your word.'

'By God we will deal with you righteously!' they replied.

So it was agreed. My donkey

was dismissed, and I went back to the island to gather up my goods, accompanied by two dusky men, whom at first I conjectured to be servants of the Moorish merchants, but I afterwards found them to be mere casual fellow passengers in the qangiah, over whom, by virtue of superior wealth and social position, the Moors exercised an influence. One of them, Mohammed the Beadsman, was a dealer in large heavy glass beads about an inch in diameter, to form ornaments for the necks and wrists and ankles of the Queens of Soudan; for in Soudan, as the merchants afterwards told me, 'to every hill there is a king, and to every king plenty of queens.' The other, Mohammed El Ghereyety, was a camel dealer going up river to buy cheap. He was reported to be full of money, but very miserly, showing no outward signs of wealth, and sponging on the merchants, who got but little service out of him in return. These men loitered about while I packed my luggage; but when it was ready they declined to put it in the boat, saying the boat would not carry it. It was a bad little boat, and I suggested dividing the baggage for two trips; but they would not take any. I got into the boat, and was going to the merchants to report the mutiny, when I saw my professor on the shore. I cried out to him

'What is the cause of this impediment?'

'The men have taken fright,' he replied.

What, to upset the boat?'

'No; they fear lest, having a Frank in their company, they should be arrested by the governors up the river for kidnapping.'

"Oh thou son of ingratitude and father of treachery! Thou hast evidently implanted this error in the skulls of those two asses in order to retain thy miserable salary for teaching me ungrammatical Arabic. Thinkest thou after this I shall continue thy lessons?'

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'Nay,' expostulated the learned man in a piteous manner, this is none of my work. See there, that old black fox hath practised this deceit. He is the dragoman of a Frank family now in the island, and it vexes him to behold a Frank conducting his own affairs without the help of his craft.'

I looked further back, and recognised the grinning black face of an old Soudanee dragoman I had seen on the boat of some acquaintances at Assouan. I begged my professor's pardon, and went to the merchants. There was much talk. I told my story to the merchants, and the beadsman and camel dealer expatiated on the imprudence of taking me with them, to all the rabble of small passengers. The Moors, after some reflection, said that, though there was nothing in it, it was better not to overrule, but to meet the objection.

"The foolish persons have eaten fear, and their bowels are full of panic. Go thou therefore to the Hakem (Governor) at Assouan, and request of him a letter to the governors up the country, setting forth the circumstances of thy journey.'

'But if a wind arise in the meantime, will ye not leave me and depart?

'By Allah, what haste is there? Are we not thy rafeeq.* Let everything be done by the permission of God! Surely, we will await thy return.'

So I again demanded a donkey, and a good donkey, that could really go, on pain of non-payment if unsatisfactory. Possibly the boys thought me by this time a doubtful customer. Certainly the donkey which came was, as I pointed out to his driver, an ass of the execrable, the feeble of body, the obdurate of disposition.' The events of that sultry day had not tended to tranquillity of temper. Stooping to pack my luggage got the blood into my head. The dra

goman, camel-dealer, and beadsman difficulty had kept me on the boil some time. The sun was now very hot upon me; and kicking the ribs of my lazy beast with bare heels and vast slippers very liable to slip off, caused me to continue in a slight simmer as I went. Going on a slow donkey, when one is in a great hurry, is a trial of temper at the best of times; so, after half a mile or so, I jumped off the donkey and discharged him unrewarded. The soil is very sandy, and I found walking in loose sand with loose slippers on stockingless feet, a trial of temper too; especially when a slipper fell off, for then the scorching heat of the sand made me hop frantically. I was now in the village of Shelaal, and a man came fadging nimbly after me on a fresh ass. I made him an offer of sixpence to Assouan and back, which was above the real price, but not half what would be charged to an inexperienced Frank. The rider did not prudently take into consideration that I had spoken to him in Arabic. He had the impudence to ask me no less than fourteen pence. I had no words to express my accumulated indignation, so I went at him headlong, without minding my slippers, and so belaboured him about the head and shoulders with my pipe-stick that he fell neck and crop off his beast, and scrambled away in great alarm. The ass stood perfectly still in the midst of the way. This was so unforeseen a result of my frantic onslaught that I could not help laughing in spite of my rage as I mounted my captured animal, and his rider followed me at a respectful distance as I rode away. By degrees the man accepted his destiny, and drove his donkey as if he had been hired in the most regular way. The donkey went well, and my anger was mollified. But we had scarcely got into the reach of desert which divides Shelaal from Assouan, when the man desisted from driving and the ass from going cheerfully. I remonstrated.

'The ass is weary, oh sir; and if thou wouldst reach Assouan with celerity, behold a camel.' Effec

tively, as the French say, a camel and an old man did appear at this juncture. 'Will you ride the camel?' said he (the beaten of the pipe-stick).

Whose camel?' said I.

'Mine!' said he. The old man is my servant.'

I confess with shame that I was foolish enough to accept the proposition. To mount a camel is a thing that requires time and attention. The gaunt beast groaned as if his heart would break. He knelt down. I got on his back. Then with a couple of severe jerks I was hoisted half way between the desert and the sky. Meanwhile the ass and his master had scudded swiftly away from the track and disappeared behind the broken granite ridges and sand-hills of the desert. Probably he had time to whisper to the old man, ‘This is a madman of the ungodly. Heaven Ideliver thee from his hands and pipe-stick.' For the camel, taken also into the conspiracy, continued to groan without attempting to stir a peg, and the old man feigned a blank imbecility. His age prevented me from applying the pipestick, so I slid down from the camel's hump, and trudged on through the desert.

It would be tedious to relate all my adventures on this short journey, but before I reached Assouan (a distance of about four miles and à half), I had mounted three separate donkeys and two different camels. I got my letter written by the governor, returned to Phile on a single donkey, and got my baggage on board the merchants' boat. I was too much exhausted to cook anything, but soaked some rusks in brandy and water for supper, and fell asleep on board the qangiah soon after sunset. I had taken the precaution of sending the names and address of the merchants, and the date of my joining them, to the consul-general at Cairo, on a slip of paper, which I committed to the gentleman whose dragoman had caused me so much trouble; so that in case I never turned up again, inquiries might be instituted for the satisfaction of my family.

I find in an old letter to my father, dated from aboard the barge of Mohammed of Tarabboloos,' these expressions of the frame of mind and considerations under which I resolved on joining the merchants' party :

'It will perhaps seem to you an imprudent step; but you must take into consideration that it is an adventure. One travels on purpose to meet with adventures, and in nine cases out of ten, when an opening for an adventure offers, one passes it by because there is a little risk. or inconvenience in the way. One might just as well slide upon dry ground, or learn to swim before going into the water, as try to find adventures which are not inaugurated with risk and attended with inconvenience. All the stereotyped conventionalities of discretion and indolence rose up in my weaker will to warn me against the expedition. But I said, in reply to these suggestions, This is not a time to argue the case, while cowardice has a barrier of obstructions on her side. I must act on my antecedent determination, that adventures are worth looking for; and at any rate be able to feel that I have done my best to remove the impediment. The retarding influence of friction on inert bodies is at its highest pitch in the moment preceding motion. And so

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it is with all the stumbling-blocks of commonplace which hamper the feet of independent action. Set your shoulder against these di termini worshipped by the stick-inthe-mud multitude, their foundations soon loosen, and when once rooted up, a kick or two will roll them away into the limbo of discredited idols. If I had failed to move my obstacle, I should not have cared much. But if I had given up without an effort, I should have felt I had missed my destiny. I should have dragomanized myself into the 66 reglar." I shall, no doubt, have many more difficulties, and the adventure may turn out less picturesque than it seems to promise. Adventures usually do. I remember feeling very much ashamed of myself, among the windy spray, of an unnecessary stock of valour I had mustered in order to go beneath the thundering veil of Niagara's waters. And so, Forsitan hæc olim meminisse pudebit. In the meantime, don't be alarmed about me. I am a tolerable hand at taking care of myself. I have medicines with me which, if not required in my own case, will increase my consideration among the natives. Love to all. Farewell. Just as I have finished, our boat has sailed, and we are moving up the Nile towards the second cataract.'

hundred miles. The Reis (captain) was of opinion that the least that could be decently charged to a Frank was a hundred Egyptian piastres. Hajji Aali was my main champion; he said I had entered the company on the express understanding that I was to be treated as one of them; and taking due regard to the bulk of my baggage and my berth in the boat, twenty piastres was ample. Much and stormy debating arose; and it ended in settling thirty piastres* as the sum. I was about to pay on

the spot, but Aali bid me put up my purse till the journey was performed. I had every reason to be satisfied with my terms; for I had a place under the matting awning, side by side with the elder Moor. A narrow gangway divided us. I fear the younger brother, Hajji Aali, had turned out of this berth in my favour. His couch was made on a couple of large chests, outside the awning, so that he had to rig up a carpet with string and palm branches, to shade himself from the sun. I found the qangiah more comfortable than the dahabieh; for the awning being open at both ends, was a cooler shelter in the day than the close wooden cabin had been; and at night it was at least no colder than the open deck of the dahabieh, to which I retreated after my first night in the cabin, from a bloodthirsty swarm of brown, broadbacked multipeds, which,

on

acquaintance with both, I can safely say are much more to be dreaded by those they love than the creature friendly to man.' There were none of these familiar vampires on board the merchants' boat, and I slept in peace.

One morning, while we were lying along shore, I saw the dignified figure of Hajji Mohammed seated on the bank. He had just performed his ablutions and prayers; but now he appeared to be investigating the ample convolutions of his white woollen robes. I approached him, and inquired what he was in search of. He replied without circumlocution in the simple generic word, 'Qaml.' I said, Show it to me, for I know not its appearance.' He continued his search, and soon directed my attention to an infinitesimal scarlet bead, less than the head of a minikin pin, a nice, cleanly-looking insect. I now remembered that for a day or two I had occasionally felt a slight irritation of the skin, much too mild for the ravages of the domestic flea. I retired precipitately to the

boat, examined my own drapery, and found the Dragoman's warning was fulfilled; I had taken him, I was a little shocked, but not dismayed. He did not infest my head or beard, and I found him a friendly creature. Our course of life on board the gangiah was of a desultory complexion. About dawn we awoke gradually. The earliest wakers gathered bits of dry bulrush on the bank, and kindled a fire. The fireplace was a heap of woodashes and stones in the midst of the vessel. It may or may not have had an iron bottom for safety, but as it was nobody's business to clear the grate, the ashes increased and multiplied; and the vessel never took fire. I often made the coffee in my own little tenebeh* with my own boonn, and seed the merchants with a little cup apiece. They liked my brew better than their own; and besides, when they made coffee, they had to give some to the captain and steersman, and sometimes to the dealer in beads. So that when I was up first and made the fire, there was often no other coffee made. Then smoking began, and hunger was fenced with at pipe's length while we sat enjoying the glorious golden sunrise flashing on the still expanse of water. (We had a great deficiency of wind during the earlier part of those three weeks.) At last, when some one of the party was prompted by his stomach, cooking began in earnest. Sometimes it was the captain, sometimes Hajji Aali, or the beadsman, or the camel dealer, anybody, in short, who was hungriest, volunteered as chef; while the next hungriest assisted as marmiton. The principal cook mixed batter in a wicker-work jar, which previous mixings had smeared inwardly so as to render the vessel impervious. When mixed, some of it was poured out on a round hearthplate of sheet iron, previously greased, and supported horizontally on stones over the embers. A minute or two baked the first