340 JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AFRICA.

the motion of the balance-wheel and of the hand on the smaller dial of the face. Their astonishment was now changed to awe, and they looked at it silently, without daring to touch it.

I profited by this impression to make a move for starting, before their greed for presents should grow into a resolve to rob us by force. I had asked the shekh two or three times to have a cup of water brought for me, but he seemed to pay no attention to the request. Soon, however, one of the men brought a large earthen jar, stopped with clay, and placed it at my feet. Thereupon the shekh turned to me, saying : " There is plenty of water in the river, and here I give you honey to mix with it." The jar was taken on board, and contained, in fact, nearly a gallon of wild honey, which had a rich, aromatic taste, like the odor of the mimosa flowers. The trading-vessels on the White Nile purchase this honey, but as the natives, in their hatred of the Turks, frequently mix with it the juice of poisonous plants, they are obliged to taste it themselves before they can sell it. I did not require this proof at their hands, preferring to trust them unreservedly, at least in my demeanor. Trust always begets a kindred trust, and I am quite sure that my safety among those savages was owing to my having adopted this course of conduct.

I went on board to get the money for the arm-rings, and after Achmet had paid the men, directed him and the rais to return. Several of the Shillooks followed, offering articles for sale, and the vizier, who had waded out, holding up his new shirt so that it might not be wet, climbed upon the gunwale of the boat and peered into the oabin. I changed my position so as to stand between him and the door, gave him two onions which he saw on deck and had an appetite for, and hurried