142 RETURN FROM AMEDEB.

at Amedeb, who would take charge of any thing we wished to give to his wife, who lived in Khor Baraka. He said, that, as he had once killed a man near Amedeb, they would not dare to go there themselves ; Khor Baraka was his home ; and, although we found him at Cassala, he said he had only been there a month. The Bombashi found the sister for us ; and we gave her Mahomet's sword, which, I believe, was the sum total of his worldly goods, and ten dollars, which she was to give to his wife, and to tell her, that, if she would go to the priests at Sanheit, we would look after her and her children. A more shrivelled-up old hag than this woman, I never saw ; she looked half starved and miserably poor ; and we gave her a present of money for herself.

After a day and a half spent at Amedeb, we started to return to the rest of our party. Having proceeded about two hours on our way, we were joined by Sheik Said Carcashi. We had met him at the Bombashi' s divan when calling there the previous day, and he had been most solicitous to return with us to the Mareb. We explained, however, both to him and the Bombashi, that it was impossible for us to consent to his joining us, as we knew he was anything but friends with the Base on the Mareb, and his going would lead to complications, to say the least of it. He was forced to admit that they were not on the best of terms ; and I feel sure that, if we had consented to take him, he would have backed out of it at the last moment.

This sheik had a long conversation with Suleiman, in which, as translated by Suleiman, he expressed great surprise at our making friends with "that beast man. Sheik Kudul." The Base had eyed our departure from Amedeb with considerable suspicion ; and, if we had brought Sheik Said back with us, they would at once have concluded that we were exploring their country with a view to taxation by the Egyptian Government.