ppears that this is the Arabian
etiquette; and the Arabs appeared much gratified that the prince
had personified their sheik, with all the paraphernalia of royalty.
His Royal Highness whose mind seemed moved with the beauty of this
country, sent for the Doctor and myself, and asked us if we had
ever seen such a country before. We frankly confessed we had not.
The prince smiled, and said, that the (_sehell_) plain we were on,
although extremely populous, and full of douars, could grow
seventeen times as much corn as the inhabitants could consume; that
there was then corn enough in the matamores[144] of this plain, to
supply (_El garb kamel_) the whole of El garb, i.e. the country
north of the river Morbeya.[145]

[Footnote 142: Intoxication is a damnable vice with these
people; and when they remark drunkenness, they invariably add
an opprobrium to the observation.]

[Footnote 143: A saa of wheat is little less than two
Winchester bushels. The wheat is very heavy, and this measure
weighs 100 lb., equal to 119 lb. English.]

[Footnote 144: The matamores are subterraneous depositories for
corn, in which they preserve the wheat sound and good thirty
years; but when a matamore is once opened, it is expedient to
consume the corn immediately, otherwise it contracts what is
called the matamore twang. These depositories are indispensable
in countries exposed to drought, scarcity, or locusts, and
_should be adopted in our colony of South Africa_. The art of
constructing them is very peculiar, and I devoted some time in
learning it.]

[Footnote 145: See the map of West Barbary.]
196
We took our leave of the Prince, who appeared much gratified with
the hospitable entertainment of the Arabs, and with their
patriarchal style of living, and sent us an enormous dish of
cuscasoe, coloured with saffron.

Encamped in the centre of this plain, when the sun had set, and the
twilight came on, we could have imagined ourselves in the midst of
the ocean. Not a cloud was in the sky, nor a hill on the land, to
intercept the uniformity of the horizon; the moon shone so bright,
that we could read by its light, and the universal novelty of the
scene resembled enchantment.

On this rich land th