M. and his family had left Uadi Halfe for Dongola, the very morning Captain P. and I arrived there. We saw his dahabies; the initials "G. M." and "C. M." engraved on the rock of Abusir; but two hours before we arrived he had left. The medir told me if I saw the son of Mr. Melly-Nino, if I don't mistake-I was to tell him that the tomb was well taken care of, as I had seen in coming up. This I promised to do if I had an opportunity; and now, having satisfied him by coming to see him, I took leave as the camels were loaded and the Arabs awaiting me. He begged me to write my name, and, having received a piece of paper, I wrote it, and then requested his, on which he wrote for me "Ali Hasib, Medir of Barbar." He was very civil, but had only studied Arabic, and seemed to me destitute of general notions of history, geography, and the sciences, like most Mussulmen. He seemed to me to have natural talent, which I surmised from remarks made by him in his description of that province of Nubia of which he was the governor. After bidding him farewell I returned to the boat and found the camels ready. I paid the Arab sheik for their hire, and then mounting the dromedary, bidding adieu to the raies, took the road by which we had come.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

DEPARTURE FROM BARBAR TO ABUHAMED.

LEAVING Barbar at nine on the morning of the 16th, almost immediately I felt a cold over my body, and I knew at once that the fever which last night seemed gone had returned to torment and weaken me still more. The north wind blew with great violence, and I trembled and took my winter coat which had been spread on the saddle, but was no better for it. The Arabs wished me to stop, but I said I hoped it would pass away. We went on until sunset and then reached a Holla on the sea shore, after passing a large village called Alabaidie. It was the village of Walad Alsheik, built by a previous sheik in memory of his son who died here. As the sheik of this Holla has a miserable house destined for an hotel, we participated in the honour of using it. The furniture consisted of a tablet fastened to the wall, an old ancarib, and millions of bugs; the roof pierced in several places to give access to the rats for going out to the terrace to observe the stars and antipodes the pavement showed itself à priori to be the bare earth. and threw myself half dead on it.

I spread my carpet
I got some fresh

water and desired Sogaiar (the Kabir) to light a fire near and get me some camels' milk, which I desired one of the Arabs to boil in a little pot that we had, which served for all culinary purposes. When he brought it I crumbled some bread into it, and taking my spoon from my travelling bag began to eat. Having finished it I lighted a candle in order to see what was written on the tablet that adorned the wall. Removing it, I found

written on it the Fatha and other invocations to the Prophet, because the religion of the Koran is the conqueror of all others, and all the perverts embrace the Koran. After reading it I lost no time in taking my pen from my eastern ink-stand at my side and wrote underneath-" Cursed Mahomed! False Prophet! who has constrained men by the sword to embrace the Koran as descended from heaven! He is in hell with the devils, and his followers will join him, there sooner or later. Thou who taketh this tablet in hand must read attentively these lines, and think that Mahomed has never seen God, for he was Ibn Haram, since he who sheds the blood of innocents, in order to compel them to believe falsehood, shall never see the great justice of God. Mahomed has shed innocent blood. He who has written this, knows the history of the false cursed Prophet Mahomed. Amen." Then I put the tablet back to its place and got a large piece of wood, that might last the whole night, put on the fire. Sogaiar asked me what I had written. I told him a Fatha for the Prophet.

* This name means very small.

"Have you written it there?"

"No, I have composed one for the Prophet."
"Oh! read it to me."

This I declined, saying I wanted to sleep.

What a fine Fatha, said I to myself. Well for me that the Arabs are so stupid. If they knew how to read my soul would be before God ere the dawn. After this I turned myself over to sleep, but awoke in the middle of the night in a pool of perspiration. As the north wind blew coldly, I heaped more wood on the fire. I arose next morning free from fever. I called the Arabs

"Children arise! morn has come, arise!" They were on foot in a moment, and having loaded the camels, we were en route by six. The wind continued, and promised us a fresh day. At eleven we reached Conanit; the Arabs wished to halt, but I would not, and we continued along the Nile for some distance. Being winter, the Nile was in its bed, and I saw all the rocks in the middle. I could not recognise the cataracts, the fourth, fifth, or sixth. I do not know how travellers can ascribe cataracts to this place. For two or three miles here the Nile is full of rocks, and the water rushing through makes a certain uproar. For this, therefore, they call such places sciallalat. I do not wish to find fault with travellers, ancient or modern, who are merely ignorant of Arabic, but I pity them, for they write what their most illustrious, most ignorant dragoman tells them.

Neither the Arabs nor inhabitants know the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth cataracts. If you ask why the boats don't come here, they reply, "Look at the rocks and stones." I do not deny that some may say, "Look at the sciallal," but they never say, "Look at the third, fourth, and sixth sciallal." And the ignorant inhabitants are not to be held up as examples. Travellers should examine and know the force of the Arabic verb scialla for sciallala, which I explained briefly. (See Chapter iv.)

At 2 P.M. we entered the Valley of the Ass and staid there for the night. On the 18th loaded the dromedaries and set off. At eleven we met some Arabs coming from Corosco to Barbar. I inquired if they had met a Frank with a Kabir. They said yes, not far off, and that he was sitting firmly on his dromedary. We spent half the day in the Wadi Ilhomar, and, leaving it, arrived at a village on the Nile called Kor. I bought some dates for the Arabs who had had nothing to eat. We left the sea to the left and took the short path. About sunset we came in sight of the district Secrec. The view from the hill was most enchanting. We descended into the plain to pass the night amongst the trees of Doni. We slept most soundly, and only were aroused by the rays of the sun striking us. The first, or travellers or inhabitants near the Nile, that we met were three gazelles; they seemed to have lodged near us. By noon we met the true lord of the country-intense heat. At 3 P.M. passed the tomb of Melly. It is sad to think that amongst the tombs of Mussulmen, is buried an