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Some shave the head every month, others allow several months to elapse. The taleb had just come from a full divan of the people, where the Rais, on this festival morning, had been haranguing them and flattering their prejudices. I wondered that a man of the Rais's sense could so commit himself.
The Mussulmans are extravagantly fond of rice, but they never prepare it in that nice delicious way in which we do, with milk, or in rice pudding. It is always covered with fat, and soon surfeits one. His Excellency and his servants played practical jokes on the black dervish. First, they bastinadoed the dervish, and then he bastinadoed the Rais's servants.
I often found him chatty and facetious, but sometimes he was sulky and morose, and would not speak for hours together. He had a fine horse, but rarely could be prevailed upon to go out and ride for his health. Every great man has his shadow, his echo, the expression of himself more or less in his fellow men. The Rais's shadow is one Abd Errahman, a small merchant.
My Negro Said is a good Mussulman, and keeps his fast well, but I never yet caught him at his prayers, nor does he go much to the mosque. Yesterday I came suddenly upon two youngsters, the Rais's slaves, who at mid-day were devouring roasted locusts and drinking water, in the style of sumptuous feasting. I called out, "Holloa! how now? are you feasting or fasting?"
Wood in The Sahara. Rais, a Marabout. Sheikh of Slaves. Complaints of the People to me. Mr. Frederick Warrington. M. Carette's brochure on Saharan Commerce. Trait of Tolerance. Growing reputation of Said. Preach anti-Slavery Doctrines in the Street of Slaves. Ignorance of the People on Geography. Talismans in Africa. The Queen of England's Physic. Rais's Desert Politics. Increase of Patients.
Abd Errahman knew the Rais's most secret thoughts, and he was the only Ghadamsee in whom the Rais could entirely confide. Abd Errahman swore by the Governor's head, and was his most obedient humble servant. Sheikh Makouran is occupied in purchasing me an outfit of Moorish costume for the The Desert. He is very slow, but he gets them cheaper than if I bought them myself.
He enters the Rais's hall of conference, and squats down in the presence of his Excellency. He speaks now, and calls for coffee. The Rais gets furiously agitated at the moment of breaking silence.
He gets sulky and saucy, and sometimes says he will stop in Ghadames and eat dates. I am obliged to box his ears. Then he gets very frightened at the Touaricks, and begins to blubber, "I shall be made a slave again, and you yourself will be killed." Then he would complain that the Rais's servants and slaves had better clothes than himself.
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