FOUR WEEKS IN FIKA 



267 



got a medicine that has taken the power from him. 

 He says they are very strong, with big heads and big 

 limbs. 



The chief or his son came every day to inquire after 

 Mr Talbot, and they deputed one of the Mallamai to our 

 especial service. In his company we visited the town, 

 which is strongly fortified. A big mud wall surrounds 

 it, and it is further protected by a double fosse that 

 makes cavalry charge impossible and greatly impedes 



the advance of footmen. Were the foe to carrv this 



•J 



first defence he would be confronted by an almost 

 equally difficult task, for inside there is another ditch, 

 and then a wall in which loopholes are cut at irregular 

 intervals. 



The town is extremely picturesque, and has an 

 individuality all its own. Date palms overshadow it, 

 and small boys climb up them with infinite glee to 

 pick great clusters of the sweet golden fruit. The 

 streets, now broad now narrow, wind amidst highly 

 ornamented mud houses, whose entrances open into it 

 quaintly at unexpected angles. 



Big clay pipes act as gargoyles to run the rain off 

 the roofs, and wooden runnels jut from beneath them 

 to carry the water 

 still farther out. 



There are large 

 numbers of mosques 

 in the city, and in 

 the principal one a 

 sacred fire is kept 

 burning, tended by young acolytes. Its porch opens 

 to the street, and through it mud pillars are dimly 

 seen. Outside old men stand or squat, fingering their 



Clay Pipe. 



