Chap. XLIX. SUPERSTITION OF THE NATIVES. 379 
to depart from them in safety, but that if I was ill- 
disposed towards them he likewise would do me evil, 
informing me at the same time that, for a similar rea- 
son, they had once killed two great religious chiefs 
from Bidden. 
Such was the character of the people with whom I 
had to deal, although they regarded themselves as 
enlightened Mohammedans. In order to show his 
good disposition, or most probably rather in order to 
see whether his good treatment of me would have any 
effect upon the amount of rain (as he seemed to take 
me for a " king of the high regions"), he sent me in 
the evening a dish of an excellent pudding, with plenty 
of butter, and a small pot of medide, or gruel seasoned 
with the fruit of the dum-palm, and even promised 
me^corn for my horse ; but as I did not send him rain 
in return, as he seemed to have expected, his hos- 
pitality did not extend further. 
It had been my custom, when a thunderstorm was 
gathering, to look out, in order to see from what 
quarter it was proceeding, which is a question of great 
interest in these regions ; but the absurd superstition 
of these people so alarmed me, that I scarcely dared 
to do so again. With regard to the superstition 
of the natives I must here mention a case which 
happened to my friend Sambo. One day while I 
was engaged in earnest talk with him respecting the 
many sects of Islam, our conversation was suddenly 
interrupted by one of the daughters of the sultan 
entering abruptly, and accusing my friend, in the 
