338 CONCEALED VALUABLES. 



accomplished by such as those. From the admitted 

 volcanic character of the country which is presumed 

 to have been the scene of Moses's early life, I have 

 been led to suppose, that Zipporah resorted to a 

 splinter of obsidian, as the means of excision in the 

 case of her son, as is done at the present day by the 

 Adal mother, to incise on her children the marks 

 of the tribe to which they belong. 



Besides the new blue covering for the head, 

 given to my female acquaintance by Ohmed 

 Mahomed, her only other article of dress was the 

 usual fringed petticoat of soft leather. In a roll of 

 this garment, along its upper edge, she had hid a 

 necklace of red beads and shells, and holding out 

 her hand when she showed them to me, plainly 

 enough asked me to give her some more ; but as I 

 had long ago distributed all I possessed of these 

 desired ornaments, I could only add to her stock of 

 valuables, a few needles and some black thread. 

 These she deposited in her curious scrap album, 

 which with a twist of the petticoat, she then 

 replaced behind her, where it rested upon the loins, 

 free from any casual observation. 



At sunset, I was desired to fire off my guns, the 

 noise of the reports being intended as a kind of 

 warning voice, to deter any of the Wahama from 

 attacking us. This was rendered the more 

 necessary, for after sunset, great numbers nocked 

 from all quarters, and our camp was full of them. 



May 5th. — We could not start this morning, 



