362 IBRAHIMAWA'S REMINISCENCES OF ENGLAND, [chap. ix. 
Ibrahimawa, the Bornu man, alias “ Sinbad the 
Sailor/’ the great traveller, amuses and bores me daily 
with his long and wonderful stories of his travels. 
The style of his narratives may be conjectured from 
the following extracts : “ There was a country adjoining 
Bornu, where the king was so fat and heavy that he 
could not walk, until the doctors opened his belly and 
cut the fat out, which operation was repeated annually.” 
He described another country as a perfect Paradise, 
where no one ever drank anything so inferior as water. 
This country was so wealthy that the poorest man 
could drink merissa (beer). He illustrated the general 
intoxication by saying, that “ after 3 p.m. no one was 
sober throughout the country, and from that hour the 
cows, goats, and fowls were all drunk, as they drank 
the merissa left in the jars by their owners, who were 
all asleep.” 
He knew all about England, having been a servant 
on a Turkish frigate that was sent to Gravesend. He 
described an evening entertainment most vividly. He 
had been to a ball at an “ English Pasha’s in Black- 
wall,” and had succeeded wonderfully with some 
charming English ladies excessively “ decollete,” upon 
whom he felt sure he had left a lasting impression, 
as several had fallen in love with him on the spot, 
supposing him to be a Pasha. 
