320 
QUARREL — DANCING. 
Christian, and would stop here for ever, gazing' 
before my tent. Four sisters of the Sultan gave me 
a call. I taught them the use of pins, and pinned 
three of them together, which produced great mer- 
riment amongst the people. A Fellatah horse- 
dealer gave me two routes to-day ; one from this 
(Gurai) to Sakkatou, and another from Sakkatou 
towards the west.* 
A quarrel has sprung up between the Kashalla 
and Said, Haj Beshir's slave, about the road we 
should take from this to Kuka. The north-eastern, 
or direct east, is the shortest, but there are three 
days without habitations : this is Said's road. The 
south-eastern is the longer route, and is the Ka- 
shalla's, but there are people every day. The 
latter is probably the better route for me. It is 
decided that we leave the day after to-morrow. 
This evening the Sultan sent me a camel, as a 
present. Not having experienced the difficulty of 
riding a horse, I had sold all my camels. The 
gift camel is a very good one. 
When the moon rises, about an hour after dark, 
the beating of the drums is heard, calling the people 
to assemble for the dancing — young men and 
maidens. In ten minutes, some hundred people are 
collected. The dancing then commences in full 
and grand style. This evening I went out to see 
the performance, and found it the most animating 
I had yet seen in Africa. The young men and 
* See Appendix. 
