248 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
Chap. XXVIII. 
thinking it better to leave this to time, but other- 
wise dwelling upon the friendship established between 
the sheikh's father and the English, and representing 
to them that, relying upon this manifestation of 
their friendly disposition, we had come without reserve 
to live awhile among them, and under their protection 
and with their assistance to obtain an insight into 
this part of the world, which appeared so strange in 
our eyes. Our conversation was quite free from con- 
straint or reserve, as nobody was present besides the 
sheikh and the vizier. 
I found the sheikh ('Om&r, the eldest son of Mo- 
hammed el Amin el Kanemy) a very simple, benevo- 
lent, and even cheerful man. He has regular and 
agreeable features, rather a little too round to be 
expressive ; but he is remarkably black — a real glossy 
black, such as is rarely seen in B6rnu, and which he 
has inherited undoubtedly from his mother, a Bagir- 
maye princess. He was very simply dressed in a 
light tobe, having a berniis negligently wrapped 
round his shoulder ; round his head a dark-red shawl 
was twisted with great care; and his face was quite 
uncovered, which surprised me not a little, as his 
father used to cover it in the Tawarek fashion. He 
was reclining upon a divan covered with a carpet, at 
the back of a fine airy hall neatly polished. 
My presents were very small, the only valuable 
article among them being a nice little copy of the 
Kuran, which on a former occasion I had bought in 
Egypt for five pounds sterling, and was now carrying 
