56 AFRICAN WANDElilNGS.

recuba ; he has a negro cast of features, wore heavy gold rings in his ears, and coloured silk trowsers. He showed no curiosity, nor did his mental faculties seem to have been cultivated ; he could not talk Arabic, only his own Aggem. A great stretch of the woods is on- fire, how or why no one knows, such things are matters of indifference to the Turks.

19th April.— To-night it has rained, a curious occurrence here at this season of the year ; from this the air is somewhat cooler, the breeze for the first time refreshing. Mohammed Din has again departed to bring in a part of the tribute laid on his tribe ; he wore the same dress as at first, with the white handkerchief the Pascha had given him as sign of pardon, tied round his neck. Poor man I what will this sign of peace avail you ? Melek Mammud accompanies him with his Schaigies. He took a mysterious farewell of us, inviting us to visit him, and become acquainted with yonder country. This daring leader of Schaigies seems to have received some secret instructions as regards Mohammed Din, but how far his men may follow them seems doubtful, as they are all for war and nothing else.

22nd April. — Mohammed Din has again returned, but tulba, '(tribute) he has brought none ; so to-day all the Sheiks have been warned, that only one month's time will be allowed for them to bring in their contributions, and in that time it must unfailingly be done. We, brothers, are in the meantime laid daily under contributions by these Arabs, for their much loved aragi (properly araki, from arak, sweet, a kind of brandy made from lees of wine or from rice). Not a little were we at first astonished at their coolness, nay, barefaced impudence, in their asking and begging for all that pleased them, while it never occurs to any one of them to make the slightest return on their side, and any little courtesy these men do deign to display, is only when they hope to gain a special advantage by it. My brother has long ere now attended professionally on many of the Sheiks, furnishing them with medicines from our own store, and now, in their own land, it is almost impossible to procure milk, honey, or even a fat sheep, though all of these they have in abundance. To-day we have had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the great Sheik (Sheik Kebir), of the tribe of Beni-Amer, between Habesch, the Red Sea, and the country of the