NATURAL DECORATIONS. 339 



much to the great grief of every man of the 

 Kafilah ; the father of Mahomed Allee, and three 

 or four other powerful Wahama chiefs, having come 

 in during the night. Calahm circles, on all sides, 

 covered the ground, with anything but fairy rings, 

 though the spot itself, seemed a little Eden, where 

 things of light and beauty might have been 

 tempted to hold their nocturnal assemblies. The 

 tall henna trees shed a delicious perfume, far and 

 wide, exactly resembling that of our dear little 

 weed, the mignonnette ; and out of due reverence 

 for, and remembrance of, the sweets of home, I 

 carried in the bosom of my tobe a small branch of 

 its clustered pale-yellow flowers. Whilst plucking 

 this, I was joined by Carmel Ibrahim, who seemed 

 not unmindful of its delightful odour, and stuck 

 a small sprig in the hair at the back of his 

 head ; but I was still more pleased to find, that 

 Ina, my Dankalli patroness, had some idea of the 

 beautiful, having placed in her hair a wreath of 

 the small blue convolvulus. Thus decorated, she 

 looked most interesting, and greatly improved by 

 the absence of her finery, which, as I before stated, 

 for some sufficient reason, she kept packed up in 

 her bustle behind. 



Two or three Hy Soumaulee came to pull me 

 back towards my hut, for I had strolled quite at 

 my ease, some distance from the camp. Turning 

 with my companion, Carmel Ibrahim, to look for 

 some explanation, we saw that the various lesser 



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