THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN necklaces were numerous, and of the finest gold ; and great was the weight of gold on her wrists and ankles. Her hair was beautifully plaited, and decorated with the largest and rarest pearls, and broad plates of gold [were] above her forehead ; and two large and most precious ornaments set with diamonds hung gracefully from her ears. Her rdhat possessed every variety of colour ; the skin of the hippopotamus was never cut so fine ; it was ornamented with the most curious shells and pieces of gold and silver attached coquettishly in the most becoming manner ; and the border of the rat around her waist consisted of coral and pearls. From her waist to her knees, only, this graceful ornament screened her form ; and there was not one of the youths of the village and of the neighbourhood, who had ever seen Amnah, who did not sigh and regret bitterly his being unworthy that her rahdt should be broken for him. " The houris of the paradise of " the Prophet cannot," said they, " be more enchanting, endowed " with such ravishing beauty, or such extraordinary talents."

She was, at the same time, the gayest of the gay, and also acquainted with all the learning of her tribe. Her father and other travellers had related to her the history and customs of their countries, and from them she had learnt the traditions and wars of her native land. Every passage of the Koran was familiar to her ; and it was whispered she had devoted herself secretly to the study of astrology, and the more hidden sciences of the Arabians. At midnight she was often seen alone, gazing at the heavens ; and for this reason the homage she received for her beauty and understanding was blended with a certain feeling almost approaching to fear. Too beautiful, pure, and learned to be of thist world, she was considered by the ignorant peasants more as an angel of light than a frail inhabitant of earth At the death of her father, after she had accompanied his remains to the grave, and for some time had lamented his loss, Amnah, weary of the constraint to which her sex subjected her, and anxious to visit those scenes which she had so often heard described, left her native village. The morning after her departure, at the entrance of a small town, she observed an old man covered with vermin. "My father," said she, "let me free you from those " tormentors " ; and she began killing the animals, until suddenly the man fell dead at her feat. " It is the will of God ! " she exclaimed, and immediately dressed herself in his clothes, and pursued her journey. Thus disguised, and safe by the power of ' The rahdt is a covering worn by unmarried girls, and is made of thin thongs of hippopotamus hide. It reaches from the waist ahiiost to the knee, and is coquetishly ornamented with masses of silver, and a variety of shells and beads It is considered sufficiently modest in this country, where no consequence is attached to the exposure of the body and limbs : otherwise, so far as it extends, it forms an elegant and impenetrable screen. The ra/uU is torn to pieces by the bridegroom before marriage. For a drawing of the rahdt see above, p. 213.

236 I