o6 HABITS AND CUSTOMS.

couch of this description, would consider they had undergone a severe punishment ; for these straw, or rather cane-mats, are plaited from a species of reed, the stalks of which are as thick as the little finger, and each particular reed is so far apart in the texture, that their entire number may be counted in the morning on the body of the slave. I have often asked these poor wretches how they could possibly sleep on a bed of torture of this kind, but they have always assured me, laughing, that they could rest better there than on the bare ground. As a general rule no one places any pillow under his head, not even as much as a stone ; but the natives cover themselves with a shirt, if indeed they have one ; in this garment they envelope the whole head, and if any one, in fact, neglect covering his head at night, he will experience a sensation of heaviness and indisposition in the morning, which will continue during the whole day. Breakfast is not customary in this country. Although the coffee from Abyssinia, and even from Yemen, which stands in commercial connexion with Kordofan, is very cheap, this beverage is but little known and is only drank by some few djelabi and the Turkish residents of Kordofan ; with the exception of one coffee-house at Lobeid, there is no establishment of the kind in the whole province, and this single cafe is frequented by the Turks solely, and not by the natives. Among the most respectable Dongolavi, however, some few may be occasionally found who do not abstain