202 
MY DAILY EMPLOYMENTS 
[chap. VIII. 
children from their refuge among the branches, they 
killed several, and in a short time a great feast was 
prepared for the whole party. My man, Mahommed, 
who was an eye-witness, declared that he could not eat 
his dinner for three days, so great was his disgust at 
this horrible feast. 
Although my camp was entirely separate from that 
of Ibrahim, I was dreadfully pestered by his people, 
who, knowing that I was well supplied with many 
articles of which they were in need, came begging to 
my tent from morning till evening daily. To refuse 
was to insult them; and as my chance of success in 
the exploration unfortunately depended upon my not 
offending the traders, I was obliged to be coldly civil, 
and nothing was refused them. Hardly a day passed 
without broken guns being brought to me for repair; 
and having earned an unenviable celebrity as a gun¬ 
smith, added to my possession of the requisite tools, 
I really had no rest, and I was kept almost constantly 
at work. 
One day Ibrahim was seized with a dangerous fever, 
and was supposed to be dying. Again I was in re¬ 
quest; and seeing that he was in a state of partial 
collapse, attended with the distressing symptoms of 
want of action of the heart, so frequently fatal at this 
stage of the disease, I restored him by a very powerful 
stimulant, and thereby gained renown as a physician, 
that, although useful, was extremely amioying, as my 
tent was daily thronged with patients, all of whom 
expected miraculous cures for the most incurable 
diseases. 
In this manner I gained a certain influence over the 
people, but I was constantly subjected to excessive 
annoyances and disgust, occasioned by the conduct of 
their party towards the Latookas. The latter were 
extremely unwise, being very independent and ready 
to take offence on the slightest pretext, and the Turks, 
being now 140 strong, had no fear, and there appeared 
every probability of hostilities. I was engaged in 
