VISIT TO A HASSANIYEH VILLAGE. 361 Leaving the sailors to kill one of our sheep, I took Achmet and the rais, and followed the paths inland through a wood of scattering mimosas. After a walk of ten minutes we came to the village, or rather encampment, since the dwellings were mere tents of sticks and reeds. They were harely large enough to cover the two or three angarebs, which served as a bed for the whole family. Although the sun was 'an hour high, not more than half the inhabitants were stirring. The others, men and women, thrust their heads from under their dirty cotton mantles and looked at us with astonishment not unmixed with fear. The women who had already risen sat on the ground kindling the fires, or spinning with a rude distaff the raw cotton which these people cultivate. We found two or three men, whom we saluted with the usual " Peace be with you ! " and the rais informed them that the Sultan's son, returning from a visit to the Shillooks, with whom he had made a treaty of peace, had come to see them. Thereupon one of them brought an angareb and set it in the shade for me, while another caught a she-goat that was browsing among the bushes, and soon returned with a gourd half full of warm milk, which he gave me. As sour milk is considered a great delicacy among these people, a gourd of it was also procured for me.

The woman who brought it knelt and placed it at my feet, but as I could not drink it and did not wish to refuse their gift, I asked one of the men to take it to the boat. He hesitated, evidently afraid to trust himself with us, whereupon the woman said : "I am not afraid to go with the Sultan ; I will take it." As we started to return, the man, whose sense of bravery, and perhaps his jealousy also, was touched by this remark, came likewise and accompanied us to the river. When 16