40 Journal of Mr. Buickhardt's 



Jedda, Wednesday, November 30. 



We awoke but to the enjoyment of anticipated gratifications, 

 took our sun-rise walk upon the poop, while Ibrahim indulged in 

 his morning pipe and coffee, assembled with the appetites of 

 health around the breakfast table, and lounged there after the 

 removal of the cloth until long past noon, in tlie delightful occu- 

 pation of alternately pressing upon our guest the natural sug- 

 gestions of eager inquiry, and being invariably gratified from his 

 answers to them with new and interesting information. 



As his recital was now more unbroken in its connexion than 

 the abrupt transitions and frequent interruptions of the preceding 

 evening suffered it to be, we learnt that finding himself in pos- 

 session of a few days of leisure, after my taking leave of him at 

 Esneh, by tlte postponement of the Nubian caravan's departure, 

 he had mounted his dromedary, and followed me along the banks 

 of the Nile, hoping to have overtaken our boat at the ancient 

 Thebes, where I proposed making some stay, and he was disap- 

 pointed in the extreme to find on his arrival at Keneh, that I had 

 just left it for Cosseir. As I had given to the Copt Raffaelli there 

 no reason to expect my return, Ibrahim, remounted his beast, and 

 retraced his steps to Esneh, where he remained until February, 

 when he joined the caravan at a village near Assouan, and pro- 

 ceeded with it toward the Nubian Desert, on the left or east of 

 the Nile. During his stay in Upper Egypt, his dress had been 

 thatof the Fellahs, merely a blue cotton shirt, drawers, turban, 

 ^■c, but this, poor as it is, being thought too symbolic of wealth 

 to travel with among the inhabitants of the wastes he had to pass, 

 was exchanged for a coarse brown goat's wool shirt, a simple 

 tarboosh or scull cap, and a pair of Bedouin sandals. Having 

 discharged his Arab servant, he placed the little baggage he 

 possessed, consisting chiefly of provisions for the voyage, and a 

 few articles of merchandise, such as soap, nutmegs, pepper, 

 spices, SjC, on his camel, and rode himself on an ass, which he 

 had purchased expressly for the journey ; as his camel, however, 

 was not laden to the extent which it was capable of bearing, this 

 was conceived to be an extravagance, which could only be in- 



