Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 4.djvu/129

 was here he shewed an instance of that quick penetration for which he was remarkable, and which, as a proof of this, I shall here mention.

There is a large waste space on each side of the palace where the market is kept. It had rained, and it was in the evening almost destitute of people; there were only two men at a considerable distance, who seemed to be in close conversation together, one of them apparently very much the worse of liquor, the other had hold of the end of the sash, or girdle, which was round the body of the drunk man; it is a narrow web of cotton cloth, which they wind eight or ten times about their waist. The king said to me, Do you know, Yagoube, what these two men are about? I answered, No. I saw the drunkard untwine one turn of his sash, which the other was feeling and looking curiously at, as if examining and doubting its goodness. That man, says the king, is robbing the drunkard of his sash: go down two or three of you who run best, and apprehend him, but hide yourselves till he has committed the theft, and seize him as he passes. The orders were quickly obeyed; the drunkard unwound his sash, by turning himself round and round, while the other seemed to be measuring it by the length of his arm, from his elbow to his forefinger, and then gathering it up. This was done very deliberately till it was all unwound, and the far end loose; upon which the fellow, who was measuring, gathering it in his arms, ran off as fast as he could, leaving the drunkard standing motionless, apparently in great surprise and amazement. The thief was immediately seized and brought up to the king, who ordered him to be thrown over the tower. At