ed to accept the inestimable present. He represents the feelings of
all the Muslims of these countries. They have not even any _curiosity_
to know the contents of the Gospel, much less the inclination to study
or appreciate them. They remain in a state of immovable, absolute
indifference. Even the beautiful manner in which the Arabic letters are
printed scarcely excites their surprise. En-Noor paid me his usual
morning visit, drank tea, and ate pickles and marmalade. We asked him
about meteors. He recollects the fall of many. One, he says, fell upon a
house, and terrified the inhabitants, who came running to him.
Afterwards they dug to the depth of a man, and found nothing, for it had
buried itself deep in the earth. According to him, a great profusion of
meteors denotes abundance of rain and herbage: but these phenomena exert
also a sinister influence like comets, signifying the death of some
great personage. I have no doubt that extraordinary meteors are very
frequent in this part of the Sahara. En-Noor was very condescending, as
usual: no change is observable in his manners.

It turned out that he had come with the intention of speaking on a very
delicate subject, but had refrained. We learned what it was afterwards.
Dr. Overweg was sent for in the course of the day to attend upon one of
En-Noor's wives, who had been frightfully beaten by his highness the
previous evening. This domestic broil formed the common topic of
conversation in Tintalous. Every scandal-monger has got hold of one
version of the story. From what we could gather, the great man was lying
down quietly, when suddenly, without any apparent provocation, he
started up, took a large stick from the fire, one of its ends still
burning, and with this terrific weapon belaboured his wife over the
face, striking especially at the mouth, and cutting the upper lip in
two. The poor woman is now very ill. No cause can be discovered for this
piece of brutality. En-Noor has, they pretend, two wives here, and one
on his estate at Damerghou; but he has only one son and three daughters.
No larger family has this great man, with all his wealth and slaves,
been able to bring up.

Beating a wife is so common in these countries, that, only when the act
is attended with features of unusual atrocity, as in this case of
En-Noor, does it excite any attention. There cannot be a question of the
fact, that our friend the Sultan is a great despot in every point of
view. Perhaps