TOKULS. 25 stroke of the whip above the knees. The dromedary is callctl hagihn ; the camel, the cliimmal, plur. chomal. We had, at dawn of morning, started on an inspection of this ruined city, Damer, to see if any ancient remains were to be found : but neitlier brick nor hewn stone did we see. The houses not yet crumbled into ruins were built of meteoric stone (top).* We made our way into a couple of such houses ; inside all was dark, as windows there were none, but a few round or angular holes up near the flat roofs, such as are in the sloping walls of Egyptian temples. By these means greater strength is lent to the bad material used in building, and this is evident in the high towers or loam castles in the land of Barabra, and from the enduring remains of the pylones of the temples. Any one who doubts the durability of such loam ediHces may soon be convinced both of this and the high national liking for them, by examining these old buildings. We generally found in the houses two monstrous cla}' jars, some six or eight feet high, such as are common also in Greece, for the storing of grain, bread, &c. ; one bed-place for the whole family, and a bench or settle, spread Avith mats, and raised some three or four feet from the ground. The other houses were the common Ethiopian tokuls, to which was attached an oblong bower of wicker-work, a tolerably cool abode, and called a Recuba.

The tokul is formed by a circular loam wall, with a pointed roof placed on it; and such huts, with little diiference, are to be found in every part of Africa and certain parts of America— Guiana, for instance, where, probably, tlie negroes introduced them. On entering one of these huts we were welcomed by a Turk from Bosnia, who, with grave face, told my brother he possessed a certain herb that would, in three or four days, perfectly cure broken bones ; but he would not produce this wondrous plant, as he feared my brother might steal his secret. We also here heard tliat at the point of land where the Atbara runs into the Nile there was a village called Kenisse (meaning Church or Christian ruins), where were many old buildings (bint gaddim), in which bricks might be found. That in very early times the Christian faith spread widely in -3ithiopia is well known, and we were about to start on a second * The word for brick is top achmer, red stone, and may point to a manufacture introduced by the Arabs.