resolved to attempt it, provided I would adopt the
dress of an Arab, and accompany him: I agreed; and we started from
Mogodor at 4 o'clock; P.M. We passed into a convenient recess, to
change my dress, which being done, we mounted our horses and rode
away; we had not gone two hours, before some scouts of the army
came galloping towards us. Billa (my trusty guide, who was a native
of Shedma, and a man of considerable influence in that province)
and his friend rode off with speed to meet them, and having
satisfied them that we were about business relating to the army,
they returned, and Billa's friend joining me, we inclined our steps
towards the sea, whilst Billa kept guard at a distance; and,
reaching a convenient and solitary retreat, we halted there till
dark; when retracing our steps for a few miles, it was concerted
that I should pass as a wounded man retiring from the army to have
my wounds examined and dressed. Billa was so well acquainted with
the roads, and all the bye-passes of the country, that, travelling
fast over the plains, not on the roads, we soon reached to the
northward of the encampments of Shedma. We passed several
straggling parties from the army, who saluted us with (_Salem u
alikume_) "Peace be to you;" to which we replied ("_Alikume
236 assalam_") "To you peace;" and Billa added "_Elm'joroh_," i.e. a
wounded man. In the old bed of the river Tansift, now full of
bushes of white broom, I narrowly escaped being discovered: as the
day was breaking, a party of Arabs suddenly turned a corner, and I
had just time to cover my mouth and chin with my (_silham_) cloak,
before they gave the salutation, or they would have discovered me
(being without a beard) to be a Christian; we passed the river,
however, perfectly safe, and were then soon in the province of
Abda, when all danger was at an end; we entered the town of Saffy,
at two o'clock in the afternoon. The Bashaw of Abda, _Abdrahaman
ben Nassar_, a renowned warrior, who had been at the head of an
army of 60,000 horse, in opposition to the Emperor, Muley Soliman,
received me with his accustomed urbanity and hospitality, and asked
me if I had come to Saffy through the air, or by sea. I replied, I
had come by neither, but by land. "How is it possible," said he,
"that you could come by land,