HOSPITABLE FAMILY. 
197 
unacquainted. As soon as the rain ceased, I went out to 
walk round the garden. The sun was not visible, and the 
clouds which had gathered upon the tops of the mountains, 
rendered the atmosphere gloomy and damp. I saw, at some 
distance in the plain, a stream running over a bed of pebbles, 
and producing a soft murmur. I might almost have fancied 
myself in some romantic region of fairy-land. 1 returned to 
the humble habitation of the old woman : she was gathering 
herbs for the supper of her little family, which consisted of 
two lads, who, she told me, were working in the fields. I 
went back to our hut and roasted in the ashes some pieces 
of cassava, which the old woman had given me. Shortly 
afterwards the two young negroes entered. They had no 
clothing except a small piece of cloth fastened round their 
middle. As soon as they learned that a Moor proceeding to 
Mecca had become their guest, they came to me, and asked 
me how I was, in a very kind tone. They invited me to 
their hut, which was much larger than ours; and they 
fetched a large mat to cover me. The rain, which had begun 
again, continued all night, accompanied with dreadful claps 
of thunder and flashes of lightning, in quick succession. 
When I entered their hut, the kind negroes seated me near 
the fire upon a sheep- skin, and offered me a little sour 
milk, which probably they had intended for their own 
supper; but I should have offended them by refusing it. 
The mother cooked a little foigne, which grows in abun- 
dance in these mountains, for the family's supper. She 
placed a small pot on the fire, by the side of a large one, 
for boiling the herbs which she had gathered that evening. I 
recognized among them the calabash, the giraumon, allspice, 
brette, sesamum, and many others ; — to these she added 
a little gombo. The foigne, when cooked, was placed in 
calabashes to be eaten. I now perceived two little girls, whom 
I had not before remarked. They ate their supper apart, and 
the old woman reserved her own portion in the pot. Ibrahim 
