Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/105

 conducted us forwards, surrounded by his Ascari, who marched on wildly dancing, singing, tossing up their matchlocks, and shouting in the same manner as practised at Mocha, when the Dola returns on public occasions from mosque. This scene lasted till we reached the first entrance of the Sultaun's house, when three irregular vollies of musquetry ended the ceremony. We were conducted thence through several passages, strongly barricaded at each end, up to an apartment opening to the sky, (somewhat resembling the hall of audience at Sana, of which a drawing is given by Niebuhr,) on the far side of which the Sultaun Hamed was waiting to receive us. We found him an old man, of a very patriarchal appearance, with a benign yet intelligent expression in his countenance. He received us in a very friendly manner, and seemed truly in his heart, as he repeated over and over again, in the manner of the Arabians, to feel great delight in once more beholding an Englishman before he died. Those British subjects who formerly visited him have left an impression very favourable to our national character, and I have strong reason to believe, from what subsequently passed, that, should we ever have occasion for the friendship of this chief, in any arrangement with the Arabian states, his good offices would be exerted to the utmost in our favour. After drinking "café à la Sultane," as it is termed by French writers, hookahs were offered to us, and soon afterwards, to my great surprise, dinner was announced. We accordingly retired with the Dola of Aden to another apartment, where a kid broiled and cut into small pieces with a quantity of pillaued rice, was served up to us, agreeably to the fashion of the country. When dinner was over, Abu Bukr rose up, and considerately observed, that, as he knew it was usual for us to take wine after our meals, (of which we had brought a small stock from Aden,) he would leave us for a short time to the enjoyment of it, an instance of politeness very rare in a mussulman.

Of the town of Lahadj, which I had an opportunity of examining in the evening and in the course of the ensuing day, I have but few observations to make. The houses are, in general, formed of mud, and even the