of stakes is planted in the ground, a conical frame of poles attached
to these stakes below, and meeting and fastened at the top of the cone,
forms the roof. This roof, and the sides of the house, are then covered
with thatched straw, which suffices to exclude the rains.

Some of the houses, however, belonging to the chiefs are of a stronger
fabric, being composed of thick walls made of bricks dried in the sun,
and having terraced roofs. In the thatched cottages I have mentioned,
the air and light come in by the doorway and four small holes pierced in
the walls of the house. This scanty ventilation renders these cottages
very hot and close: the difference between the temperature of an
inhabited house and that of the air outside being, in my judgment,
almost as great as that of the undressing room of a bath at Cairo, and
that of the passage just outside of the bath itself. This circumstance
alone is almost sufficient to account for the great mortality in
Sennaar, during the rainy season, when whole families are shut up in
these close cottages; and every one who goes abroad must necessarily go
with his pores in a condition expressly adapted to make him catch a cold
or a fever.

Six days before the army reached Sennaar, the Pasha was met by an
ambassador from the Sultan; he had an audience of his Excellence,
and returned the next day to Sennaar. He was a handsome young man,
accompanied by a numerous suite mounted on dromedaries. The army pursued
its route, steadily marching in order of battle, the infantry in the
centre, the cavalry on the wings; the artillery in advance of the centre
and the baggage in the rear, with Shouus' cavalry and the dromedary
corps of Abbadies scouring our front and flanks to a great distance. Two
days after it was reported in the camp that the Sultan of Sennaar was on
his way to meet us with a strong force, preceded by numerous elephants
and great herds of cattle, collected in order to receive and exhaust
the fire of our troops. The Pasha proceeded however steadily on with the
army in order of battle, and equally prepared for peace or war. Two
days before the arrival of the army in Sennaar, as I was riding near the
Topgi Bashi, who was in front of the army with the artillery, I saw
a great number of armed men approaching, mounted on horses and
dromedaries. Presently the Malek of Shendi (who had accompanied the
Pasha)[51], rode up to the Pasha and informed him that the strangers
approaching wer