THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 117 



above the flaps of the faddle, into which the horfeman put 

 his thighs and legs, and which covered him from his hip 

 (where his fhirt of mail ended) down to a httle above his 

 ancle : his feet were covered with flippers of thin leather, 

 without heels, and his flirrups were of the Turkifli or 

 Moorifli form, into which his whole foot entered, and, be- 

 ing hung very fliort, he could raife himfelf, and ftand as 

 firmly as if he was upon plain ground. The faddles were 

 in the Moorifli form like wife, high before and behind ; a 

 flrong lace made faft to the coat of mail by the one end, the 

 other pafl^ed through a fmall hole in the back of the faddle, 

 kept it clofe down, fo that the back was never expofed by the 

 coat of mail rifmg over the hinder part of the faddle. Each 

 had a fmall ax in the furcingle of his faddle, and a pike 

 about fourteen feet long, the weapon with which he char- 

 ged ; it was made of very light wood, brought from the banks 

 of the Nile, with a fmall four-edged liead, and the butt 

 end balanced by a long fpike of iron"; this entered a lea- 

 ther cafe faftened by a thong to the faddle, and was refled 

 fometimes below the thigh, and fometimes above, and guid- 

 ed by the right hand at the height the point was intended 

 to ftrike at. The horfeman's head was covered with a hel- 

 met of copper, or block tin, much like thofe of our light- 

 horfe, with large crefls of black horfe tail.. 



The oflicers were diftinguifhed from the foldiers by locks 

 of hair dyed yellow, interfperfed with the black. Upon the 

 front of each helmet was a iilver flar, at leaft a white-metal 

 one, and before the face, down to the top of the nofe, a flap 

 of iron chain, made in the fame manner as the coat of mail, 

 but only lighter, which ferved as a vizier. This was the 

 iaoi[ troublefome part of the whole, it was hot and heavy, 



and 



