92 HABITS AND CUSTOMS.

himself with an exclamation of " Allah-Kerim (God is merciful) ; he then approached me, and I, expecting to hear a dismal tale, had a trifling present in readiness for him, but greatly was I astonished when he refused the present, and begged of me to give him merely a handful of tobacco, as his whole supply was consumed in the conflagration.

The natives of Kordofan are a very good tempered people, and the traveller meets everywhere with a kind and hospitable recej)tion. If he arrive at midday, or in the evening in a village, he has only to choose a hut, which the inhabitant immediately quits, leaving it entirely at the disposal of his guest. The natives content themselves, in the meantime, with being quartered on their next neighbours, or they will pass the whole time, if the weather permit it, in the open air. If he do not desi3ise their fare, he will not have a sous of outlay, neither for himself, his servant, nor for his camels, who find their food close to the village. The inhabitants perform all the services he may require willingly, and without the slightest contradiction, and he will hear nothing of the " backsheesh," so troublesome among the Egyptians. The only custom which the stranger will find a nuisance, are the visits with which he is honoured in great numbers soon after his arrival. The judge, and persons of influence in the village, enter the hut, whilst the rest encamp around it in the open air. The ceremonies commence with greetings, and then a hundred questions are asked, as, whence he came ?