SHEIK AC HILL LEARNS OUR NAMES. 71 



upon accompanying us to a village, where he said we 

 must halt for the night, as the Arabs will not travel 

 at night from fear of wild beasts. 



It was a great luxury to be mounted on our little 

 horses ; and lucky for us that we had bought an extra 

 one, for, either by accident or design, one of them became 

 dead lame very soon, and had to be sent back with the 

 understanding, however, that it should be replaced by 

 another without extra charge. Our route to-day has 

 been along the north bank of the Settite for about 

 two miles and a half, and then turning to the left we 

 passed through a small village, and shortly arrived at 

 another, name Zahani, where we have encamped. As we 

 quite expected, the Sheik has again been our guest at 

 dinner. Afterwards he told us that he should very much 

 like to come to England with us, and would not be put 

 off by being told that the cold would kill him, for he 

 said he had plenty of warm clothes, as well as kind 

 friends there, and with great readiness mentioned the 

 names of Baker, Arkwright, and Durant. It was very 

 amusing to hear Albert giving him lessons in the pro- 

 nunciation of our names, and he appeared most anxious 

 to learn them also by heart. ' Lord Coke ' and ' Mr. 

 Myers ' gave him no trouble to pronounce ; ' Captain 

 Vivian ' was only accomplished after a hard struggle ; but 

 * Sir William Gordon Cumming ' was more than even his 

 great mind could grasp, so he contented himself with a 



