144 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



moflly mounted on camels. Thefe were friends to Shekh 

 Hamam, governor of Upper Egypt for the time, and confe- 

 quently to the Turkifh government at Sycne, as alfo to the 

 janiflaries there at Deir and Ibrim. They were the barrier, or 

 bulwark, againft the prodigious number of Arabs, the Bifha- 

 reen, and others, depending upon the kingdom of Sennaar. 



iBRAHrM, the fon, who had feen me at Furfhout and Bad- 

 joura, knew me as foon as I arrived, and, after acquainting 

 his father, came with about a dozen of naked attendants, 

 with lances in their hands to efcort me. I was fcarce got 

 into the door of the tent, before a great dinner was brought 

 after their cuftom ; and, that being difpatched, it was a thou- 

 fand times repeated, how little they expected that I would 

 liave thought or inquired about them. 



We were introduced to their Shekh, who was lick, in a 

 corner of a hut, where he lay upon a carpet, with a cufhion 

 under his head. This chief of the Ababde, called Nimmer, 

 u e. the 'Tiger (though his furious qualities were at this time 

 in great meafure allayed by ficknefs) alked me much about 

 the ftate of Lower Egypt I fatisfied him as far as pomble, 

 but recommended to him to confine his thoughts nearer 

 home, and not to be over anxious about thefe diftant coun- 

 tries, as he himfelf feemed, at that time, to be in a declining 

 flate of health. 



Nimmer was a man about fixty years of age, exceedingly 

 tormented with the gravel, which was more extraordinary 

 as he dwelt near the Nile ; for it is, univerfally, the difeafe 



2 • with 



* The Bifhareen are the Arabs who live in the frontier between the two nations. They are 

 She nominal fubje&s of Sennaar, but, in fad, indifcreet banditti, at lealt as to Grangers. 



