Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 4.djvu/421

 THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 593

other great fit of laughter. " Child, anfwercd I, you know the Shekh is not our friend, and there is no eafier way to get rid of us than by poifon, as we eat everything that comes from you without fear." — " And fo you may, fays fhe ; the Shekh could do no fuch thing without our knowledge,^ and we would rather all be burnt alive than be guilty of fo vile an aftion. Bclides, fays fhe, this is not like Habefli, where both meat and drink, brought to you, are tailed by the bearer before you ufe them. There is no fuch thing as poifon in Atbara ; the lance and the knife in the field, that is the manner in which they kill one an- -other here,"

We then fhew^d her our dinner uneaten, and fhe again fell into a violent fit of laughter, and took the meat away that fhe might warm it, and we heard her laughing all the wr\y as flie went by herfelf. She was not long in returning with provificns in plenty, and told us, that her miftrefTes never were fo diverted in their lives, and that (he left them llill laughing. The black flave then called me to the door, and gave me an India green handkerchief, which flie faid Aifcach had pulled from her head, and fent with her to me, with orders to inquire, " Do the women of your country do fuch things, Yagoube, which, for all the fathers and gold in the world, Aifcach would not be guilty of? My father is indeed a Funge *, but my mother is a Jehaina|."

Neither the Shekh nor Moullah expelled me out on

Sunday, which I told them was my feflival. I employed

Vol. IV. 3 D that


 * Which means a flave. -j- A noble and free Arab.