206 
VISIT TO THE CHIEF. 
o'clock, a supper, consisting of rice and meat very well 
cooked, was brought to us : two of our travelling companions 
added theirs, and our party consisted of about twenty, for 
many of Ibrahim's relations remained without waiting for the 
ceremony of an invitation. All ate with great avidity, and 
yet no one seemed satisfied. When the company had re- 
tired, my guide sent for me to partake of some couscous, 
made of very good cow's milk, and then invited me to 
retire to rest on a bullock's hide, which he had ordered to be 
prepared for me in the hut of one of his wives. Although 
the weather was very hot, a fire had been lighted in the hut, 
and I found myself very much annoyed by the heat, and par- 
ticularly by the smoke, which had no vent but through the 
straw-covered roof. My guide's wife lay in the middle of the 
hut, surrounded by her children. 
On the 11th of May, at eight in the morning, Ibrahim 
came to pay his respects to me, and asked me to go and see 
his father, the chief of the village of Cambaya. He was 
an old blind man, and we found him lying in his hut, on a 
kind of platform of earthy raised six inches from the ground. 
It was three feet broad and six and a half or seven feet long, 
and was covered with a mat. At one end of this couch, 
a smooth plank was fixed, and above that was laid another 
piece of wood six inches thick, intended to raise the head 
and serve the purpose of a pillow. The old man appeared 
to be at least eighty years old. He had been informed of 
my arrival on the preceding evening, and his son intro- 
duced me, saying that I had come to salute him. He 
raised himself with some difficulty from his couch, and 
stretched out his hand to me, with the usual salutation, 
Salam alekoum. He passed his hand over the whole of 
my person, saying el-arab, el-arah acagnie (Arab, thou art 
good). He appeared to regret that he could not see me, 
and asked me if I was quite determined to return to my 
country, promising me a safe escort thither, and every now 
