THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 387
1 RETURNED iTiy mofl humblc thanks to my kind infor- mants ; with a fmall gratification of civet to the two elder ladies, and a feparate portion to the beautiful Aifcach, af- furing them I fhould not fail to profit by any advice they fliould give me. After this I again fell into a found fleep^ which continued till morning ; and, though my affairs had not the moft profperous appearance, I felt a calmnefs of mind to which I had been utterly a flranger ever fmce I had left Ras el Feel. My fervants awakened me in the morning of the nth; I drank coffee, and dreffed, and took along with me Soliman and Ifmael, without arms in our hands, but having knives and piflols in our girdles, to fliew that we had lived in fear.
The MouUah's name was Welled Meftah, or the fin of hiterpretat'miy or explanation. He was reputed to have at- tained fuch a degree of holinefs as to work miracles, and, more than once in his life, to have been honoured with the converfation of angels and fpirits, and, at times, to have called the devil into his prefence, and reproved him. He was a man below the middle fize, of a very dark com- plexion, and thin beard, feemingly pafl fixty, hollow-eyed^ and very much emaciated. If holy, we could not fay he was the beauty of holinefs. I tmderftood, afterwards, he was much addicfled to the ufe of opium, to the effedrs of which he probably was indebted for his converfation" with fpirits. He had brought with him another faint, much younger and robufler than himfelf, who had been feveral times at Mecca, and had feen Metical Aga, but did not know him. He had feen likewife the Englifli fhips at Jid- da, and knew the name of the nation, but nothing more* He was a flierriffe, (that is, a defcendant of Mahomet) a de^
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