20 
PREPARATIONS FOR SAILING. 
[chap. I. 
in physiognomy I never encountered. Each man re¬ 
ceived five months' wages in advance, and I gave them 
an entertainment with abundance to eat and drink, to 
enable them to start in good humour. 
We were just ready to start; the supplies were all on 
board, the donkeys and horses were shipped, when an 
officer arrived from the Divan, to demand from me the 
poll-tax that Moosa Pasha, the Governor-general, had 
recently levied upon the inhabitants; and to inform 
me, that in the event of my refusing to pay the said 
tax for each of my men, amounting to one month's 
wages per head, he should detain my boats. I ordered 
my captain to hoist the British flag upon each of the 
three boats, and sent my compliments to the govern¬ 
ment official, telling him that I was neither a Turkish 
subject nor a trader, but an English explorer; that I 
was not responsible for the tax, and that if any Turkish 
official should board my boat, under the British flag, 
I should take the liberty of throwing him overboard. 
This announcement appeared so practical, that the 
official hurriedly departed, while I marched my men 
on board, and ordered the boatmen to get ready to 
start. Just at that moment, a government vessel, by 
the merest chance, came swiftly down the river under 
sail, and in the clumsiest manner crashed right into us. 
The oars being lashed in their places on my boat, ready 
to start, were broken to pieces by the other vessel, 
which, fouling another of my boats just below, became 
fixed. The reis, or captain of the government boat 
that had caused the mischief, far from apologising, 
commenced the foulest abuse; and refused to give 
oars in exchange for those he had destroyed. To start 
was impossible without oars, and an angry altercation 
being carried on bet ween my men and the government 
boat, it was necessary to come to closer quarters. The 
reis of the government boat was a gigantic black, 
a Tokrouri (native of Darfur) who, confident in his 
strength, challenged any one to come on board, nor did 
any of my fellows respond to the invitation. The inso- 
