Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 1.djvu/443

Rh them too, they were naked, or had only a rag about their waist. Their faces are neither stained nor painted. They catch a quantity of fish called Seajan, which they carry to Loheia, and exchange for Dora and Indian corn, for they have no bread, but what is procured this way. They also have a flat fish, with a long tail to it, whose skin is a species of shagreen, with which the handles of knives and swords are made. Pearls too are found here, but neither large nor of a good water, on the other hand, they are not dear; they are the produce of various species of shells, all Bivalves *.

The town consists of about thirty huts, built with faggots of bent grass or spartum, and these are supported within with a few sticks, and thatched with the grass, of which they are built. The inhabitants seemed to be much terrified at seeing us come a-shore all armed; this was not done out of fear of them, but, as we intended to stay on shore all night, we wished to be in a situation to defend ourselves against boats of stroller from the main. The saint, or Marabout, upon seeing me pass near him, fell flat upon his face, where he lay for a quarter of an hour; nor would he get up till the guns, which I was told had occasioned his fears, were ordered by me to be immediately sent on board.

On the 7th, by an observation of the meridian altitude of the sun, I found the latitude of Foosht to be 15° 59' 43" north. There are here many beautiful shell-fish; the concha veneris, of several sizes and colours, as also sea urchins,

Rh


 * See the article Pearl in the Appendix.