CAPTIVITY AT BENOWM. 
S65 
immediately discharged in his face the contents 
of a wooden bowl which she carried in her hand. 
As Mr Park, who perceived that it was the same 
species of holy water with which the priest 
sprinkles a new married couple among the Hot- 
tentots, did not exhibit much gratitude for the 
favour, the old lady informed him seriously, that 
this nuptial benediction of the bride was received 
by the unmarried Moors as the highest mark of 
esteem. 
Before Johnson had time to depart from Jarra, 
he was also seized by the Moors and conveyed to 
Benowm, with all the effects of Mr Park that had 
been left in the house of Daman Jumma, except 
the papers which had been committed by Johnson 
to the care of one of the wives of Daman. These, 
with Mr Park's watch, his gold, amber, and 
pocket-compass, were deposited in the tent of 
AH, whose superstitious fears were soon excited 
by the compass, and he inquired why that small 
piece of iron (the needle) always pointed to the 
great desert. As a scientific explanation would 
have been unintelligible, and affected ignorance 
would have excited suspicion, Mr Park told him 
that it pointed to his mother, who resided beyond 
the great desert, and would conduct him to her if 
she was alive, and, when she was dead, direct 
him to her grave. Upon this explanation, Ali, 
who began to regard it with still greater amaze- 
