FREED CAPTIVES FROM KHARTOUM 



few drops were poured into the palm of a little slave- 

 boy, who put it to his lips, to show there was no poison 

 in it. I then poured a glass of the fiery spirit down my 

 throat and tried to look as if I liked it. As I took my 

 leave, I asked to be allowed to photograph my hosts, 

 and arranged them in a group on the steps, afterwards 

 taking a picture of some of the escort with their French, 

 Italian, Egyptian, and Russian rifles. They examined 

 the camera with great curiosity and wanted to see the 

 results at once ! So impressed were they with my per- 

 formance that I was asked to repair a watch that would 

 net go; this I soon cleaned and put right. In the 

 evening another supply of provisions arrived, this time 

 from the king's house. 



After a night of heavy rain and high wind, which 

 drove right through the end of my tent, the morning 

 broke clear and fine. I was hardly up before the old 

 lady whom I had noticed during the proceedings of the 

 former day arrived with a basket of little cakes of teff 

 I was told that my visitor was a cousin of Tecla Hay- 

 manot, but that did not prevent her pocketing a dollar 

 with every sign of satisfaction. A little later two other 

 women arrived, the younger of whom was decidedly 

 good-looking. They told me they had been carried off 

 by the Dervishes fourteen years ago, during their raids 

 into Abyssinia, but after the battle of Omdurman the 

 Sirdar had released 200 of these captives, and had 

 given them clothes and money, sending them back to 

 their own country, via Kassala. When they heard an 

 Englishman was in the place, they had come to salaam. 

 They brought me some fresh eggs, refusing any return 



