36S TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



and I agree, and though I have lived many years v/ith peo- 

 ple of your religion of all ranks, yet I am far from knowing 

 what are the manners of Atbara ; what will offend you or 

 them, or what not ; for, as I have no view but your good 

 and theirs, I would not expofe myfelf to any ill ufage to 

 which a miftake of your cuftoms may fubjed; me. In fliort, 

 I muft afk thefe ladies a number of queftions, which, if you 

 choofe to hear, you may, but no perfon elfe muft, as is the 

 cuftom of my country." " What has he to do with us and 

 our phyXician ? faid the eideft of the two ; all his bufmefs is 

 to pay you money when you have made us well." " What 

 would become of him, fays Adelan's daughter, if we were 

 to be ill ? he would ftarve for want of people to make ready 

 his meat." — Aye, and his drink too, fays the other, which 

 he is fonder of than his meat."—" No, no, fays ShekhFidele, 

 in perfe6t good humour, we know you, Hakim ; you arc 

 not like us ; afk them all the queftions you pleafe, I neither 

 wifti nor intend to hear them ; I hear too much of them 

 every day againft niy will, and only wifli to God you would 

 cure them or make them dumb altogether, and then they 

 will not teaze me with their illnefs any longer; a fick wo- 

 man is plague fufficicnt for a devil." — " Then, clear the 

 room, faid I, in the firft place, of all thefe idle women-fer- 

 vants; 6nly leave two or three of the fteadieft ftaves to ferve 

 their miftrefles." He did not feem at a lofs how to do this, 

 for he took up a fliort whip, or fwitch, which lay at hand, 

 and happy were they who got firft to the door. I faw among 

 thefe a genteel female figure, covered from head to foot, 

 whom Fidele pulled in with his hand, after he had puflied 

 the others otit of the door, faying, " Come in, Aifcach ;" and 

 immediately after this he went away. 



I WAS 



