We Visited
The Tents Of Four Different Ladies, At Every One Of Which I Was Presented
With A Bowl Of Milk And Water.
All these ladies were remarkably
corpulent, which is considered here as the highest mark of beauty.
They
were very inquisitive, and examined my hair and skin with great
attention; but affected to consider me as a sort of inferior being to
themselves, and would knit their brows, and seemed to shudder, when they
looked at the whiteness of my skin. In the course of this evening's
excursion, my dress and appearance afforded infinite mirth to the
company, who galloped round me as if they were baiting a wild animal;
twirling their muskets round their heads, and exhibiting various feats of
activity and horsemanship, seemingly to display their superior prowess
over a miserable captive.
The Moors are certainly very good horsemen. They ride without fear; their
saddles being high before and behind, afford them a very secure seat; and
if they chance to fall, the whole country is so soft and sandy, that they
are very seldom hurt. Their greatest pride, and one of their principal
amusements, is to put the horse to his full speed, and then stop him with
a sudden jerk, so as frequently to bring him down upon his haunches. Ali
always rode upon a milk-white horse, with its tail dyed red. He never
walked, unless when he went to say his prayers; and even in the night,
two or three horses were always kept ready saddled, at a little distance
from his own tent. The Moors set a very high value upon their horses; for
it is by their superior fleetness, that they are enabled to make so many
predatory excursions into the Negro countries. They feed them three or
four times a day, and generally give them a large quantity of sweet milk
in the evening, which the horses appear to relish very much.
April 3d. This forenoon a child, which had been some time sickly, died in
the next tent; and the mother and relations immediately began the death
howl. They were joined by a number of female visitors, who came on
purpose to assist at this melancholy concert. I had no opportunity of
seeing the burial, which is generally performed secretly in the dusk of
the evening, and frequently at only a few yards distance from the tent.
Over the grave, they plant one particular shrub; and no stranger is
allowed to pluck a leaf, or even to touch it; so great a veneration have
they for the dead.
April 7th. 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.
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