38 
SALI ACHMET KILLED. 
[chap. I. 
the green sea of high reeds, from which elevated point 
they were keeping up a dropping fire at some object 
indistinguishable in the high grass. The death-howl 
was soon raised, and the men rushing down from their 
secure position, shortly appeared, carrying with them 
my best choush, Sali Achmet, dead. He had come 
suddenly upon the buffalo, who, although disabled, 
bad caught him in the deep mud and killed him. 
His gallant comrades bolted, although he called to 
them for assistance, and they had kept up a distant 
fire from the lofty ant-hill, instead of rushing to his 
rescue. The buffalo lay dead; and a grave was im¬ 
mediately dug for the unfortunate Sali. My journey 
begins badly with the death of my good man Johann 
and my best choush—added to the constant mishaps 
of the “Clumsy.” Fortunately I did not start from 
Khartoum on a Friday, or the unlucky day would 
have borne the onus of all the misfortunes. 
The graves of the Arabs are an improvement upon 
those of Europeans. What poor person who cannot 
afford a vault, has not felt a pang as the clod fell 
upon the coffin of his relative ? The Arabs avoid this. 
Although there is no coffin, the rude earth does not 
rest upon the body. The hole being dug similar in 
shape to a European grave, an extra trench is formed 
at the bottom of the grave about a foot wide. The 
body is laid upon its side within this trench, and covered 
by bricks made of clay which are laid across;—thus 
the body is contained within a narrow vault. Mud is 
then smeared over the hastily made bricks, and nothing 
is visible; the tomb being made level with the bottom 
of the large grave. This is filled up with earth, which, 
resting on the brick covering of the trench, cannot 
press upon the body. In such a grave my best man 
was laid—the Slave women raising their horrible howl¬ 
ing and my men crying loudly, as well explained in the 
vv>rds of Scripture, “and he lifted up his voice and 
wept.” I was glad to see so much external feeling for 
their comrade, but the grave being filled, their grief 
