ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. 
399 
the good little Wukeel. There was great trouble in 
squeezing him into it, but it was effected, and I thought 
all was completed. No ; Ali Bey took the wideawake 
off, and placed instead a tasseled fez on the back of 
Speke's head ; and then, fully equipped, Ali Bey stood 
back, examined him from top to toe, clapped his hands, 
and pronounced the whole get-up highly becoming ! 
The ingenuity of the Wukeel was not yet over. Tying 
a knot on each leg of the cast-off trousers, he crammed 
into them coats, waistcoats, wideawakes, &c, making 
a decapitated Guy Fawkes, and bundled them over to 
Bombay. I thought I had escaped all further dressing, 
but my toilet was not considered complete until an at- 
tempt was made to fit a fez upon my head ; and this 
proving hopeless, we were ushered into a room with 
sofas all round, to partake of coffee, brandy, and cigars. 
About twenty fashionably-dressed gentlemen in Euro- 
pean and Turkish costumes then came rushing in to 
welcome us. They had heard of our approach the pre- 
vious day by a letter which we had forwarded from 
Gutcena, and they had already despatched the message 
that first reached England regarding us, announcing 
that the " Nile was settled." It was the intention of 
these gentlemen to have ridden out on horseback 
and camels up the bank to bring us into Khartoom in 
triumph, but their messenger had failed to find us, and 
they politely expressed regret at being taken unawares. 
However, their welcome was most enthusiastic. M. 
de Bono, commonly called Latiffe by the natives, 
whose trading depot we had found at Faloro, took the 
lead in offering us hospitality. We all adjourned to 
his beautifully fitted-up house, and enjoyed the " chi- 
