394 COLD NORTH WINDS FROM DONGOLO. 
took place, and Diab for a moment left her to go and 
sit upon a dry spot of sand. She followed, sat by him 
and told her tale, while a boy joined them, and was 
kissed by Diab on the cheek. Master Frij seeing what 
went on, thought he had better join the small party, 
and listen to what they had to say to one another. 
Taking his place close by them, he sat there with the 
greatest coolness, without introduction to the lady, or 
any previous knowledge of her. The Africans are 
generally a free-and-easy race, and despise the for- 
malities of society. When Mr Moorlang, the Austrian 
missionary, was pressing upon us the acceptance of 
some delicacy, Frij, too proud to confess our poverty, 
found a reply by saying that our larder was full to 
excess — we did not require anything ! He was the 
Caleb Balderston of the Nile Expedition. 
Our passage down the Nile from El Eis to Khar- 
toom, though only one hundred and fifty miles, occu- 
pied us eight days. The stillness of the current, the 
head wind, and the enticements offered to our crew by 
the bazaars at Shellai and Gutcena, prevented our 
reaching sooner. Although the diabeah was all that 
we could wish for in comfort, yet knowing the dis- 
tance to be so short, the delay was vexatious ; the 
more so as we were told that at that point, or more 
particularly at Grutcena, the north wind coming from 
the Dongolo direction sometimes, at this equinoctial 
season, detained boats for eight days, or even a month. 
I was astonished with the coldness of the atmosphere, 
even after the sun had risen, occasioned by these 
northern winds from Dongolo, and I asked Diab, the 
captain, regarding them ; his reply was, that they 
and the Cairo winds are colder than any ever ex- 
