OF THE OLD WORLD. 375 



our feet with the tips of their fingers, and then 

 raising thera to their foreheads. 



On the slope of a hill, surrounded by a small 

 patch of Indian corn, stood the hamlet, which con- 

 sisted of about half a dozen log-huts, each contain- 

 ing a single apartment ; and one of the largest, by 

 the orders of the Bey, was cleared out of its occu- 

 pants, consisting of an indiscriminate medley of 

 men, women, children, ponies, sheep, goats, cows, 

 buffaloes, geese, fowls, &c., and given up for the 

 accommodation of my people and horses, being suffi- 

 ciently roomy to contain all comfortably. 



I was conducted to the " dewan-khana," or guest- 

 house, and introduced to the elders of the tribe as 

 the " Ingleese Bey," where, after pipes and sherbet 

 had been handed round by boys, I had to undergo 

 a long series of cross-questioning as to the recent 

 events of the war. 



At last ray revolvers, which I aways wore loaded 

 in my belt, in case of accident, attracted their atten- 

 tion, and they all jumped up thunderstruck when I 

 explained their action ; but I was not believed until 

 I had exhibited their powers by lodging ten bullets 

 in a small circle of a walnut-tree about twenty paces 

 distant from the door of the hut. In order more 

 strongly to impress upon their minds the nature of 

 our armament so as to guard against any attempt 

 at treachery, I directed one of the boys to hang a 

 dry gourd, which served as a water- vessel, on a 

 stalk of Indian corn about a hundred yards distant, 



