358 A GOOD CHARACTER. 



how they intended to serve them, should any 

 attempt be made upon the Kafilah. 



The two boxes just brought in, I looked upon as 

 earnest of the arrival of the rest, and congratulated 

 Ohmed Mahomed, in my own mind, for having once 

 in the course of our journey, not deceived me in the 

 information he had given. I was a little too hasty, 

 however, in this conclusion, for another day passed 

 over us, without any more being brought into 

 camp. 



The new comers of the "VYahama Kafilah, men 

 and women, annoyed me terribly to-day, blocking 

 up, with a dense mass of squatting human nature, 

 all the avenues to my hut, and begging for whatever 

 they could see. The worst was, I could not 

 encourage any of- the female relatives of Abu 

 Bukeree to come and live with me as a keeper, 

 they were such a bad set. Had I done so, it 

 would have raised a great scandal, and my 

 character as a medical practitioner would have 

 suffered, as it was now usual to ascribe all my 

 extraordinary cures to excessive morality, as also, 

 by the bye, all good and fortunate shots that I 

 happened to make. 



I distributed needles, and paper, and tobacco 

 until I wished myself anywhere, even in a stall at 

 the Pantheon, to have got out of my present 

 huxtering business, with such a lot of gratis cus- 

 tomers as I had ; and had it not been for Ibrahim, 

 the brother of Mahomed Allee, who went and 



