94 A JOLLY MOOE. CH. iv. 



drowned during dinner by the native music provided in 

 compliment to the distinguished guests. Four men, 

 squatting on the ground, struck the stretched metal 

 strings of an instrument somewhat resembling a very rude 

 Tyrolese zither, and kept up a constant chant or recitation 

 in loud nasal tones, very different from the slow mono- 

 tonous almost always melancholy songs of the Arabs in 

 the East. These men, on the contrary, declaimed the 

 words with unflagging energy, as though determined that 

 the hearers should understand the story ; and it was a 

 moment of intense relief when at the end of dinner the 

 deafening clang of strings and voices ceased. The fingers 

 were again washed, green tea again served, courtesy re- 

 quiring that each guest should take at least three cups, 

 and then the Governor and his friends advanced and 

 joined our party. 



Mr. Carstensen had asked permission to bring some 

 wine for our use during dinner, and afterwards naturally 

 took the occasion to invite the Moors present to take a 

 share. With very slight show of reluctance, they accepted ; 

 and, though the quantity consumed was but trifling, the 

 effect was unmistakable. The conversation became very 

 lively, and jokes passed which excited peals of laughter, 

 though most of them evaporated in the process of transla- 

 tion. One of the Moorish guests — Director of the Tobacco 

 monopoly, as we were told — from the first struck us as a 

 man of jovial temperament; and on him the extra glass 

 or two of wine had a potent effect, the jollity culminating 

 in an extemporised dance, reminding one of the dancing 

 bears, once the delight of our youth, that have disappeared 

 since the era of Zoological Gardens. The copious doses 

 of green tea did not prevent some of the party from 

 sleeping ; while others sat ap till near morning, engaged 

 in the almost hopeless endeavour to get large piles of 

 botanical paper thoroughly dry, before we finally started 

 on our journey into the interior. 



