INTERIOR OF AFRICA. 1^5 
appeared at first rather shocked at the thought of having a Chris- 
tian so near her : but when I had (by means of a Negro boy, 
who spoke the Mandingo and Arabic tongues) answered a great 
many questions, which her curiosity suggested, respecting the 
country of the Christians, she seemed more at ease, and pre- 
sented me with a bowl of milk ; which I considered as a very 
favourable omen. 
The heat was now almost insufferable ; all nature seemed sink- 
ing under it. The distant country presented to the eye a dreary 
expanse of sand, with a few stunted trees and prickly bushes, 
in the shade of which the hungry cattle licked up the wi- 
thered grass, while the camels and goats picked off the scanty 
foliage. The scarcity of water was greater here than at Be- 
nowm. Day and night the wells were crowded with cattle, 
lowing and fighting with each other to come at the trough: 
excessive thirst made many of them furious; others, being too 
weak to contend for the water, endeavoured to quench their 
thirst by devouring the black mud from the gutters near the 
wells ; which they did with great avidity, though it was 
commonly fatal to them. 
This great scarcity of water was felt severely by all the people 
of the camp, and by none more than myself ; for though Ali 
allowed me a skin for containing water, and Fatima, once or 
twice, gave me a small supply, when I was in distress, yet such 
was the barbarous disposition of the Moors at the wells, that, 
when my boy attempted to fill the skin, he commonly received 
a sound drubbing for his presumption. Every one was asto- 
nished that the slave of a Christian should attempt to draw 
U 
