quantity of victuals than I had been accustomed to receive at Benowm, had as yet said nothing on the subject of my release. In the meantime the frequent changes of the wind, the gathering clouds, and distant lightning, with other appearances of approaching rain, indicated that the wet season was at hand; when the Moors annually evacuate the country of the Negroes, and return to the skirts of the Great Desert. This made me consider that my fate was drawing towards a crisis, and I resolved to wait for the event without any seeming uneasiness; but circumstances occurred which produced a change in my favour, more suddenly than I had foreseen, or had reason to expect. The case was this: the fugitive Kaartans, who had taken refuge in Ludamar, as I have related in Chapter VIII. finding that the Moors were about to leave them, and dreading the resentment of their own sovereign, whom they had so basely deserted, offered to treat with Ali, for two hundred Moorish horsemen, to co-operate with them in an effort to expel Daisy from Gedingooma; for until Daisy should be vanquished, or humbled, they considered

that they could neither return to their native towns, nor live in security in any of the neighbouring kingdoms. With a view to extort money from these people, by means of this treaty, Ali dispatched his son to Jarra, and prepared to follow him in the course of a few days. This was an opportunity of too great consequence to me, to be neglected. I immediately applied to Fatima (who, I found, had the chief direction in all affairs of state), and begged her interest with Ali, to give me permission to accompany him to Jarra. This request, after some hesitation, was favourably received. Fatima looked kindly on me, and, I believe, was at length moved with compassion towards me. My bundles were brought from the large cowskin bag that stood in the corner of Ali's tent, and I was ordered to explain the use of the different articles, and shew the method of putting on the boots, stockings, &c.; with all which I cheerfully complied, and was told that, in the course of a few days, I should be at liberty to depart.

Believing, therefore, that I should certainly find the means of escaping from Jarra, if I should once get thither; I now freely

indulged the pleasing hope that my captivity would soon terminate; and happily not having been disappointed in this idea, I shall pause in this place, to collect and bring into one point of view such observations on the Moorish character and country, as I had no fair opportunity of introducing into the preceding narrative.

CHAPTER XII.

Containing some further miscellaneous Reflections on the Moorish Character, and Manners. Observations concerning the Great Desert, its Animals, wild and domestic, &c. &c.

THE Moors of this part of Africa are divided into many separate tribes; of which the most formidable, according to what was reported to me, are those of Trasart and Il Braken, which inhabit the northern bank of the Senegal river. The tribes of Gedumah, Jafnoo, and Ludamar, though not so numerous as the former, are nevertheless very powerful and warlike; and are each governed by a chief, or king, who exercises absolute jurisdiction over his own horde, without acknowledging allegiance to a common sovereign. In time of peace, the employment of the people is pasturage. The Moors, indeed, subsist chiefly on the flesh of their cattle; and are always in the extreme

of either gluttony or abstinence. In consequence of the frequent and severe fasts which their religion enjoins, and the toilsome journies, which they sometimes undertake across the Desert, they are enabled to bear both hunger and thirst with surprising fortitude; but whenever opportunities occur of satisfying their appetite, they generally devour more at one meal, than would serve an European for three. They pay but little attention to agriculture; purchasing their corn, cotton-cloth, and other necessaries, from the Negroes, in exchange for salt, which they dig from the pits in the Great Desert.

The natural barrenness of the country is such, that it furnishes but few materials for manufacture. The Moors however contrive to weave a strong cloth, with which they cover their tents; the thread is spun by their women, from the hair of goats; and they prepare the hides of their cattle, so as to furnish saddles, bridles, pouches, and other articles of leather. They are likewise sufficiently skilful, to convert the native iron, which they procure from the Negroes, into spears and knives, and also into pots