Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/72

52 vation forced to take in the ruder occupations of those times, have, to my very great regret, obliterated long ago the whole from my memory.

is a general custom in Masuah for people to burn myrrh and incense in their houses before they open the doors in the morning; and when they go out at night, or early in the day, they have always a small piece of rag highly fumigated with these two perfumes, which they stuff into each nostril to keep them from the unwholesome air.

houses in Masuah are, in general, built of poles and bent grass, as in the towns of Arabia; but, besides these, there are about twenty of stone, six or eight of which are two storeys each; though the second seldom consists of more than one room, and that one generally not a large one. The stones are drawn out of the sea as at Dahalac; and in these we see the beds of that curious mussel, or shell-fish, found to be contained in the solid rock at Mahon, called Dattoli da mare, or sea-dates, the fish of which I never saw in the Red Sea; though there is no doubt but they are to be found in the rocky islands about Masuah, if they break the rocks for them.

Masuah is situated in the very entrance of Abyssinia, a very plentiful country, yet all the necessaries of life are scarce and dear. Their quality, too, is very indifferent. This is owing to the difficulty, expence, and danger of carrying the several articles through the desert flat country, called Samhar, which lies between Arkeeko and the mountains of Abyssinia; as well as to the extortions