THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 525 
the fhort roots of grafs that are to be found by the fide of 
the Nile, after the fun has withered it. This they dig out 
~where it is covered with earth, and appears blanched, which 
they lay in fmall heaps once a-day on the ground before 
them. They are tethered by the fetlock joint of the fore- 
lee with a very foft cotton rope made with a loop and large 
button. They eat and drink with the bridle in their mouth, 
not the bridle they actually ufe when armed, but a light 
one made on purpofe to accuftom them to eat and drink 
with it: If you afk the reafon, they tell you of many battles 
that have been loft by the troops having been attacked by 
their enemy when taking off the bridles to give their horfes 
drink. No Arab ever mounts a ftallion; on the contrary, 
in Nubia they never ride mares; the reafon is plain: The 
Arabs are conftantly at war with their neighbours, (for fo 
‘robbery in that country is called) and always endeavour to: 
‘take their enemies by furprife in the grey of the evening; 
or the dawn of day. A ftallion no fooner fmells the ftale 
of the mare in the enemy’s quarters, than he begins to 
neigh, and that would give the alarm to the party intend- 
ed to be furprifed. No fuch thing ever can happen when 
they ride mares only ; on the contrary, the Funge truft on- 
’ Jy to fuperior force. They are in an open, plain country, 
muft be difcovered at many miles diftance, and all fuch 
furprifes and ftratagems are ufelefs to them.. 
Tue place where we alighted is called Hajar el Dill, and 
is a mile eaft from where we halted in the wood to feed our 
camels. We continued along the Nile at about a mile’s di- 
ftance from it, and, after advancing near three miles, came 
in fight of a large village called Derreira; on the oppofite 
fde of the Nile, and beyond that, about four miles on the 
4 ~- fame 
