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and a Cape ram painted red, also without blemish. Close to 
the latter a hole was dug in the ground, over which he was laid, 
and his throat cut. The camel must be killed by the chief in 
person, or by some holy man in his presence. The latter was now 
the case. The animal was bound by cords round his feet to the 
ground, and his head raised by a rope attached to a pole. A 
sharp spear of steel was the weapon, with which the priest twice 
attempted, in vain, to wound the artery in the breast : the third 
time he succeeded, and the camel soon bled to death. I enquired 
the cause of this festival, and was informed that it was in com- 
memoration of the preservation of Ishmael in the desert, and the 
substitution of a ram for Isaac. We now adjourned to the breakfast 
tent, where every thing was provided, and where a portion of the 
camel and ram soon made its appearance. The flesh of the former 
was very sweet, and I should have liked it much had it been more 
tender. His Excellency ordered a part of it to be sent home tome. 
The day was now far advanced, and I dreaded the heat in returning 
home; from this fear, however, I was soon relieved by his Excel- 
lency's information that he had ordered his cuss palanquin* to be 
in waiting for me, and begged I would use it. I was highly flatter- 
ed by this little attention, which showed his wish to oblige me 
much more than a thousand ceremonial honours could have done. 
I accepted it with thanks, and a fellow running by my side with 
water kept the cuss so wet that I arrived at the palace as cool as if I 
had passed three miles in England, whilst an inner lining of linen 
prevented me from being touched by the water. 
* The long fibrous and sweet-scented roots of a grass, which are formed into the 
covering of the palanquin, and the water thrown on them. 
