ation, the heat was excessive.

I made during my stay in Sennaar frequent inquiries about the fly
mentioned by Bruce; the people of Sennaar said they knew nothing of
it;[62] but, in reply to my inquiries, referred to a worm, which they
say comes out of the earth during the rainy season, and whose bite is
dangerous.

The reptile species in Sennaar are numerous. The houses are full of
lizards, which, if you lie on the floor, you may feel crawling or
running over you all night. I saw at Sennaar a serpent of a species, I
believe, never before mentioned. It was a snake of about two feet
long, and not thicker than my thumb, striped on the back, with a copper
colored belly, and a flat head. This serpent had four legs, which did
not appear to be of any use to him, as they were short and hanging from
the sides of his belly. All his motions, which were quick and rapid,
were made in the usual manner of serpents, i.e. upon its belly.[63]

I do not feel authorized to give an opinion as to the national character
of the people inhabiting the kingdom of Sennaar; but I am obliged to
consider the inhabitants of the capital as a very detestable people.
They are exceedingly avaricious, extortionate, faithless, filthy and
cruel.[64] The men are generally tall and well shaped, but the females
are, almost universally, the ugliest I ever beheld; this is probably
owing to their being obliged to do all sorts of drudgery.

The children of these people, and indeed of all the tribes on the Upper
Nile, go quite naked till near the age of puberty. A girl unmarried
is distinguished by a sort of short leather apron, composed of a great
number of leather thongs hanging like tassels from a leather belt
fastened round the waist: and this is all her clothing, being no longer
than that of our mother Eve after her fall. The married women, however,
are generally habited in long coarse cotton clothes, which they wrap
round them so as to cover their whole person, except when they are at
work, when they wrap the whole round the waist.

As to the manufactures of the people of the Upper Nile, they are
limited, I believe, to the following articles, Earthenware for domestic
uses and bowls for pipes; cotton cloths for clothing; knives, mattocks,
hoes and ploughs, for agriculture, water-wheels for the same; horse
furniture, such as the best formed saddles I ever rode on, very neatly
fabricated; stirrups in the European form, made of silver for the
chiefs, and not