254 AFRICAN AVAXDERINGS.

grabins, Joseph's fame rose so liigh, that men believed he could revive the dead, but Avoukl not, as he dared not contend with the Avill of God.

'-• The camp was now close to the village of Kadmin, behind which in a ravine started up a beautiful rock-spring, the only one of its kind we saw in Africa ; and near this we were again fenced and pallisaded. No sooner did the Pascha again find himself in > security here, than at the instigation of Mohammed Ehle he openly ,exposed for sale in the camp the three sons of the Sheik Auet, the true head of the Hallenga, Avho will not surrender, and this he did on purpose to insult the father. The price asked for these youths was so high that no one would buy them. Mohammed Ehle alone bid for them with looks bent on the ground, as his countrymen round loured with furious eyes on him, it being against all custom, and contrary to the Koran, to buy a true Believer.

From the village being so near us we had much better opportunity of coming into communication Avith the natives, among whom my brother made various medical observations. The women, especially the female slaves, have beautifully turned strong arms, a full upper body, and this principally from Avorking at the murhaka; the under part of the body and limbs are not so fully developed. All are rather slender than stout ; Avhercas most of the blacks, the Dinka excepted, exhibit a good deal of such beauty as the Cape Venuses boast of. The body is free in all its movements, and the ankles and Avrists are fine and the feet small. The hair is thick, bushy, and stiff.

Here the people, on the death of a Faki, or rich man, beat the nagara, and sing to it a monotonous song of a very few AAords. After burials the hoAvlings are continued in the houses of the dead for from seven to fourteen days, and longer by the women. In the graveyard stands a kind of catafalque, a low scaffold, overhung by coloured mats ; at the head is erected a post ornamented with shells and ostrich feathers, round Avhicli the Avomen stand, stretching up their arms in the air, singing, and dancing. Here, too, are Faki, to Avhom on the night of Thui-sday and Friday the Nebi come. Ere a Faki can become famous he must be A'ery aged, or have distinguished himself by mucli fasting and selfdenial, but chiefly by much dissinxulation and hypocrisy.