110 AFRICAN WAXDliKINGS.

grape shot, and fired into the forest of t]ie Hadd;.'nua land, probably to alarm any Arabs concealed in it, as the thunder oi tlie great guns ever strike terror into the souls of tliese Arabs and blacks, even of such of them as should be well used to the noise ; for we often have seen tliese, when by any chance near the cannon when lired, start back some six or seven paces, pale and trembling at the report. When the Turks attacked a large, populous, and fortified hill near Faszogl, the blacks sent out spies to learn how strong were their foes, and how they were armed ; these spies came back laughing, with the report that there was no great body of troops, and such as there were had no other arms than polished sticks over, their shoulders, but neither lances, swords, nor shields. Ere long, however, the ignorant unfortunates discovered the fearful efficacy of these polished sticks, though they could not for a moment comprehend how such small pieces of lead could so speedily wound, nay, slay outright ; so the general opinion pronounced that an Afritt sclieitan (devil or evil spirit) lived in the muskets, and under this idea a black, who had laid hold of a soldier's musket, instantly placed his hand on the muzzle to keep the scheitan in ; the soldier drew the trigger, and the leaden devil shattered the hand and breast of the poor negro. Still they hold their own lances as much the most deadly, and far superior to the invisible balls ; hence a negro, after a skirmish, having got possession of some six or seven muskets of the slain soldiers, bore tliem joyfully home, to convert the barrels into lance heads, in the midst of a circle of admiring countrymen. Some of the former, however, chanced to contain the charge, and becoming red hot in the fire, burst, and sent wounds and death among the astonished lookers-on.

The mere cocking of the piece, and, far more surely, the report, will send most Arabs flj'ing, though no damage has been done, as we have often beheld in the tribes of Taka ; but the inliabitants of Hedjas have taken a wiser part, having managed to provide themselves with muskets, and though very slow they are sure shots ; hid behind their rocks and walls, thi-y are pretty sure, witli their far carrying flinr-guns, to hit their man ; and in most skirmishes with then\ the fallen soldiers are found to have been hit on the foreheads, as the red tarbush affords them an excellent mark to aim at.