372 BEDOUIN ARITHMETIC. 



to my hut, telling me in a low voice I mnst come 

 out to frighten away the Assa-hemerah Muditu, 

 by firing off my guns. This was done with very 

 good effect, for they invariably took the hint, and 

 after a few minutes' stay, to save their honour, I 

 suppose, they moved off the ground. On one of these 

 warning intimations, a loud laugh was raised at 

 the expense of one of our Muditu visitors, who, in 

 the sudden astonishment occasioned by the report, 

 brought up his spear to the attitude for launching 

 it, but with the butt-end towards me. 



One evening, Carmel Ibrahim, the Hy Soumaulee 

 chief, was sitting upon the ground by my side, 

 amusing himself and me by his vain endeavours to 

 count thirty, which proved to be beyond his 

 arithmetical powers, even with the aid of small 

 stones. Counting these by fives, he produced a 

 total of thirty-five, and when I said they were 

 wrong, he added another five to correct the error. 

 At last, with the aid of Allee, who had been 

 taught the Arabic numerals at school in Tajourah, 

 the thirty stones were ranged in a line, and I 

 began my lesson, to learn their names in the Affah 

 or Dankalli tongue. 



Whilst thus engaged, Allee caught sight of 

 three men coming in a direction from the north, 

 the country of the Assa-hemerah. They approached 

 the Kafilah very cautiously, and evidently trying 

 to conceal their advance, by covering themselves 

 with the low bushes between us and them. 



