- About four o'clock in the afternoon a whirlwind passed
through the camp with such violence that it overturned three tents,
and blew down one side of my hut.
These whirlwinds come from the
Great Desert, and at this season of the year are so common that I
have seen five or six of them at one time. They carry up quantities
of sand to an amazing height, which resemble, at a distance, so many
moving pillars of smoke.
The scorching heat of the sun, upon a dry and sandy country, makes
the air insufferably hot. Ali having robbed me of my thermometer, I
had no means of forming a comparative judgment; but in the middle of
the day, when the beams of the vertical sun are seconded by the
scorching wind from the desert, the ground is frequently heated to
such a degree as not to be borne by the naked foot. Even the negro
slaves will not run from one tent to another without their sandals.
At this time of the day the Moors lie stretched at length in their
tents, either asleep, or unwilling to move; and I have often felt
the wind so hot, that I could not hold my hand in the current of air
which came through the crevices of my hut without feeling sensible
pain.
April. 8. - This day the wind blew from the south-west; and in the
night there was a heavy shower of rain, accompanied with thunder and
lightning.
April 10. - In the evening the tabala, or large drum, was beat to
announce a wedding, which was held at one of the neighbouring tents.
A great number of people of both sexes assembled, but without that
mirth and hilarity which take place at a negro wedding. Here was
neither singing nor dancing, nor any other amusement that I could
perceive. A woman was beating the drum, and the other women joining
at times like a chorus, by setting up a shrill scream, and at the
same time moving their tongues from one side of the mouth to the
other with great celerity. I was soon tired, and had returned into
my hut, where I was sitting almost asleep, when an old woman entered
with a wooden bowl in her hand, and signified that she had brought
me a present from the bride. Before I could recover from the
surprise which this message created, the woman discharged tine
contents of the bowl full in my face. Finding that it was the same
sort of holy water with which, among the Hottentots, a priest is
said to sprinkle a newly-married couple, I began to suspect that the
old lady was actuated by mischief or malice; but she gave me
seriously to understand that it was a nuptial benediction from the
bride's own person, and which, on such occasions, is always received
by the young unmarried Moors as a mark of distinguished favour.
This being the case, I wiped my face, and sent my acknowledgments to
the lady.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 59 of 88
Words from 30287 to 30793
of 45803
