him in
the evening and with much concern informed him that his uncle had
persuaded his father to put out his eyes. Ali, however, replied that he
would not do so until Fatima, the queen, who was at present in the
north, had seen him.

In vain Park begged that he might be permitted to return to Jarra. Ali
replied that he must wait till Fatima had seen him, and that then he
should be at liberty to go, and that his horse should be restored to
him.

So wearied out was he at last with all the insults he received that he
felt ready to commit any act of desperation.

One day Ali sent to say that he must be in readiness to ride out with
him, as he intended to show him to some of his women. They together
visited the tents of four different ladies, at every one of which he was
presented with a bowl of milk and water. They were all remarkably
corpulent, which in that country is the highest mark of beauty. They
were also very inquisitive, examining minutely his hair and skin, though
affecting to consider him as a sort of inferior being to themselves, and
pretending to shudder when they looked at the whiteness of his skin.
Notwithstanding the attention shown him by these fat dames, his
condition was not improved, and he was often left without even food or
water, while suffering fearfully from the heat.

Ali at length moved his camp, and Park was sent forward under the escort
of one of the king's sons. The new encampment was larger than that of
Benowm, and situated in the midst of a thick wood, about two miles
distant from a neighbouring town, called Bubaka. Here Park was
introduced to queen Fatima by Ali. She seemed much pleased at his
coming, shaking hands with him, even though Ali had told her that he was
a Christian. She was a remarkably corpulent woman, with an Arab cast of
countenance and long hair.

After asking a number of questions, with the answers to which she
appeared interested, she became perfectly at her ease and presented her
visitor with a bowl of milk. She was, indeed, the only person who
treated Park kindly during his stay.

Both men and cattle suffered much from thirst, and though Ali had given
him a skin for containing water, and Fatima once or twice presented him
with a small supply, yet such was the barbarous disposition of the
Moors, that when his boy attempted to fill his skin at the wells, he
generally received a sound drubbing for his presumption. One night,
having in vain attempted to obt