152 OHMED MEDINA. 



country of Adal and of Abyssinia, I found very 

 useful, and he was ever ready to give me accounts 

 of the places he knew, of the roads, of the halting- 

 grounds, and of the trade. He would sometimes 

 dwell with considerable interest upon the great 

 wealth that formerly characterized the commerce of 

 Abyssinia, and indulged in hopes that he should 

 live to see it restored again, now that the English 

 had come into the country. He admitted that the 

 Dankalli tribes themselves, by their violence had 

 depopulated and destroyed the once extensive and 

 powerful kingdom of Adal. 



Ohmed Medina had visited Bombay and Aden, 

 and had the most exalted ideas of our wealth, and 

 the political power of England ; he often declared 

 his admiration of our laws and customs, and said 

 that he should come and live in one of our 

 " belladee ' or towns, and become an Islam Fe- 

 ringee. 



Garahmee saw that his supremacy in the 

 Kafllah was now impossible, and with his usual 

 tact, sunk into an obsequious follower, where he 

 could not dictate as an arrogant chief. For my 

 own part, I now felt easy, and secure from the fate 

 which I felt convinced I should have met with had 

 not Ohmed Medina joined our Kafilah ; as it was, 

 had I been travelling in a well-ordered country, my 

 personal safety could not have been better assured, 

 and many a pleasant hour's sleep have I enjoyed 



