ST-H ESOUR C £ O F THE N IX E. '507 



ger, and declares that he did not believe there was on 

 earth fo barbarous, brutal, and treacherous a people, as 

 5vere the Nubians. 



It happened that the king's troops had gained fome ad~ 

 vantage over the rebellious Arabs, on which account there 

 was a feftival at court, and M. du Roule thought himfelf 

 obliged to exert himfelf in every thing which could add to 

 the magnificence of the occasion. With this intention he 

 Ilia ved his beard, and dreft himfelf like a European, and in 

 this manner he received the vifit of the minifter Achmet. 

 M. Mace, in a letter to the conful of the above date, com- 

 plains of this novelty. He fays it mocked every body ; and 

 that the* mirrors which multiplied and deformed the ob- 

 jects, made the lower forts of the people look upon the am- 

 bafiador and his company as forcerers. 



Upon great feftivals, in moll Mahometan kingdoms, the 

 king's wives have a privilege to go out of their apartments, 

 and vifit any thing new that is to be feem Thefe of the 

 king of Sennaar are very ignorant, brutiiTi, fantaftic, and 

 eafily offended. Had M. du Roule known the manners of 

 the country, he would have treated thefe black majeflies 

 with ftrong fpirits, fweetmeats, or fcented waters ; and he 

 might then have fhewed.them with impunity any thing 

 that he pleafed, 



But being terrified .with the glafTes, and difgufted by his 

 inattention, they joined in the common cry, that the ambaf- 

 fador was a magician, and contributed all in their power to 



3 S 2 ruin 



* We have feen thefe were recoc:mer,4ed by M. Maillet, the confu!. 



