THEIR QUICK PERCEPTION. 491 



they being, as are all inhabitants of the towns on 

 the sea-coast of Adal, descended from Abyssinian 

 mothers, and not of the pure Affah blood. This 

 act of trustworthiness, where great temptation 

 existed, may be only singular, from the few oppor- 

 tunities the Dankalli have of exercising their 

 natural good qualities. 



I have, also, made no mention that several 

 times during my journey attempts were made by 

 the Dankalli to teach me the game of gubertah, 

 something similar to our backgammon, played with 

 dry camels' dung, and a number of holes in the 

 ground. These attempts failed entirely, through my 

 want of capacity, whilst any little trick of legerde- 

 main, with which I sometimes amused them, was 

 soon learnt, and in many instances they themselves 

 detected the manner in which the trick was 

 performed. One instance of this quickness of 

 perception struck me particularly. It was a game 

 I showed to them, in which seven small stones 

 represented two thieves and five horses, the decep- 

 tion in which consists of picking up one of the 

 representatives alternately with each hand, yet at 

 the conclusion to shew the horses and thieves still 

 in the unequal numbers of two and five in either 

 hand. This, after a little observation, was per- 

 formed by several of my companions, and I 

 recorded it among many other evidences of what 

 their Circassian physiognomy betokened, a much 

 higher mental capability than the conceited Arab, 



