I Begged Them To Guide Two Of My People
To The Presence Of Mek Nimmur, With A Preliminary Message.
This
they promised to perform.
Accordingly, I sent Taher Noor and
Bacheet on horseback, with a most polite message, accompanied
with my card in an envelope, and a small parcel, carefully
wrapped in four or five different papers; this contained a very
beautiful Persian lance-head, of polished steel inlaid with gold,
that I had formerly purchased at Constantinople.
During their absence, we were inundated with visitors, the
Abyssinians, in their tight pantaloons, contrasting strongly with
the loosely-clad Arabs. In about an hour, my messengers returned,
accompanied by two men on horseback, with a hospitable message
fronm Mek Nimmur, and an invitation to pay him a visit at his own
residence. I had some trifling present ready for everybody of
note, and, as Taher Noor and my people had already explained all
they knew concerning us, Mek Nimmur's suspicions had entirely
vanished.
As we were conversing with Mek Nimmur's messengers through the
medium of Taher Noor, who knew their language, our attention was
attracted by the arrival of a tremendous swell who at a distance
I thought must be Mek Nimmur himself. A snow-white mule carried
an equally snow-white person, whose tight white pantaloons looked
as though he had forgotten his trousers, and had mounted in his
drawers. He carried a large umbrella to shade his complexion; a
pair of handsome silver-mounted pistols were arranged upon his
saddle, and a silver-hilted curved sword, of the peculiar
Abyssinian form, hung by his side.
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