THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 387 



1 RETURNED iTiy mofl humblc thanks to my kind infor- 

 mants ; with a fmall gratification of civet to the two elder 

 ladies, and a feparate portion to the beautiful Aifcach, af- 

 furing them I fhould not fail to profit by any advice they 

 fliould give me. After this I again fell into a found fleep^ 

 which continued till morning ; and, though my affairs had 

 not the moft profperous appearance, I felt a calmnefs of 

 mind to which I had been utterly a flranger ever fmce I 

 had left Ras el Feel. My fervants awakened me in the 

 morning of the nth; I drank coffee, and dreffed, and 

 took along with me Soliman and Ifmael, without arms in 

 our hands, but having knives and piflols in our girdles, to 

 fliew that we had lived in fear. 



The MouUah's name was Welled Meftah, or the fin of 

 hiterpretat'miy or explanation. He was reputed to have at- 

 tained fuch a degree of holinefs as to work miracles, and, 

 more than once in his life, to have been honoured with 

 the converfation of angels and fpirits, and, at times, to have 

 called the devil into his prefence, and reproved him. He 

 was a man below the middle fize, of a very dark com- 

 plexion, and thin beard, feemingly pafl fixty, hollow-eyed^ 

 and very much emaciated. If holy, we could not fay he 

 was the beauty of holinefs. I tmderftood, afterwards, he 

 was much addicfled to the ufe of opium, to the effedrs of 

 which he probably was indebted for his converfation" with 

 fpirits. He had brought with him another faint, much 

 younger and robufler than himfelf, who had been feveral 

 times at Mecca, and had feen Metical Aga, but did not 

 know him. He had feen likewife the Englifli fhips at Jid- 

 da, and knew the name of the nation, but nothing more* 

 He was a flierriffe, (that is, a defcendant of Mahomet) a de^ 



3 C 2 gree 



