The pocket compass soon became an object of superstitious curiosity, and Ali desired Mr. Park to inform him, why the small piece of iron always pointed to the Great Desert? Mr. Park was somewhat puzzled: to have pleaded ignorance, would have made Ali suspect he wished to conceal the truth; he therefore replied, that his mother resided far beyond the land of Sehara, and whilst she lived, the piece of iron would always point that way, and serve as a guide to conduct him to her, and that if she died, it would point to her grave. Ali now looked at the compass with redoubled wonder, and turned it round and round repeatedly, but finding it always pointed the same way, he returned it to Mr. Park, declaring he thought there was magic in it, and he was afraid to keep so dangerous an instrument in his possession.
On the morning of the 20th, a council was hold in Ali's tent respecting Mr. Park, and its decision was differently related to him by different persons, but the most probable account he received from Ali's son, a boy, who told him it was determined to put out his eyes, by the special advice of the priests, but the sentence was deferred until Fatima, the queen, then absent, had seen the white man. Mr. Park, anxious to know his destiny, went to the king and begged permission to return to Jarra. This was, however, flatly refused, as the queen had not yet seen him, and he must stay until she arrived, after which his horse would be restored, and he should be at liberty to return to Ludamar. Mr. Park appeared pleased; and without any hope of at present making his escape, on account of the excessive heat, he resolved to wait patiently for the rainy season. Overcome with melancholy, and having passed a restless night, in the morning he was attacked by a fever. He had wrapped himself up in a cloak to promote perspiration, and was asleep, when a party of Moors entered the hut, and pulled away the cloak. He made signs that he was sick, and wished to sleep, but his distress afforded sport to these savages. "This studied and degrading insolence," says Mr. Park, "to which I was constantly exposed, was one of the bitterest ingredients in the cup of captivity, and often made life itself a burthen to me. In these distressing moments I have frequently envied the situation of the slave, who, amidst all his calamities, could still possess the enjoyment of his own thoughts, a happiness to which I had for some time, been a stranger. Wearied out with such continual insults, and perhaps a little peevish from the fever, I trembled, lest my passion might unawares overleap the bounds of prudence, and spur me to some sudden act of resentment, when death must be the inevitable consequence."
In this miserable situation he left the hut, and laid down amongst some shady trees, a small distance from the camp, but Ali's son, with a number of horsemen galloping to the place, ordered him to follow them to the king. He begged them to allow him to remain where he was for a few hours, when one of them presented a pistol towards him, and snapped it twice; he cocked it a third time, and was striking the flint with a piece of steel, when Mr. Park begged him to desist, and returned with them to the camp. Ali appeared much out of humour, and taking up a pistol fresh primed it, and turning towards Mr. Park with a menacing look, said something to him in Arabic. Mr. Park desired his boy to ask what offence he had committed, and was informed, that having gone out of the camp without Ali's permission, it was suspected he had some design to make his escape, but in future, if he were seen without the skirts of the camp, orders were given that he should be immediately shot.
About this time all the women of the camp had their feet, and the ends of their fingers stained of a dark saffron colour, but whether for religion or ornament, Mr. Park could not discover. On the evening of the 26th, a party of these ladies visited him, to ascertain by actual inspection, whether the rites of circumcision extended to Christians. Mr. Park was not a little surprised at this unexpected requisition, and to treat the business jocularly, he told them it was not customary in his country, to give ocular demonstration before so many beautiful women, but if all would retire, one young lady excepted, to whom he pointed, he would satisfy her curiosity. The ladies enjoyed the joke, and went away laughing, The preferred damsel, although she did not avail herself of the offer, to show she was pleased with the compliment, sent him meal and milk.
On the morning of the 28th, Ali sent a slave to order Mr. Park to be in readiness to ride out with him in the afternoon, as he intended to show him to some of his women, and about four o'clock the king with six attendants came riding to the hut. But here a new difficulty occurred, the Moors objected to Mr. Park's nankeen breeches, which they said were inelegant and indecent, as this was a visit to ladies, but Ali ordered him to wrap his cloak around him. They visited four different ladies, by each of whom Mr. Park was presented with a bowl of milk and water. They were very inquisitive, and examined his hair and skin with great attention, but affected to consider him as an inferior being, and knit their brows, and appeared to shudder when they looked at the whiteness of his skin. All the seladies were remarkably corpulent, which the Moors esteem as the highest mark of beauty. In the course of the excursion, the dress and appearance of Mr. Park afforded infinite mirth to the company, who galloped round him, exhibiting various feats of activity and horsemanship.
The Moors are very good horsemen, riding without fear, and their saddles being high before and behind, afford them a very secure seat, and should they fall, the country is so soft and sandy, that they are seldom hurt. The king always rode upon a milk-white horse, with its tail dyed red. He never walked, but to prayers, and two or three horses were always kept ready saddled near his tent. The Moors set a high value upon their horses, as their fleetness enables them to plunder the negro countries.
On the same afternoon, a whirlwind passed through the camp, with such violence, that it overturned three tents, and blew down one side of the hut in which Mr. Park was. These whirlwinds come from the Great Desert, and at that season of the year are so common, that Mr. Park has seen five or six of them at one time. They carry up quantities of sand to an amazing height, which resemble at a distance so many moving pillars of smoke.
The scorching heat of the sun, upon a dry and sandy country, now made the air insufferably hot. Ali having robbed Mr. Park of his thermometer, he had no means of forming a comparative judgment; but in the middle of the day, when the beams of the vertical sun are seconded by the scorching wind from the desert, the ground is frequently heated to such a degree, as not to be borne by the naked foot; even the negro slaves will not run from one tent to another without their sandals. At this time of the day, the Moors are stretched at length in their tents, either asleep or unwilling to move, and Mr. Park has often felt the wind so hot, that he could not hold his hand in the current of air, which came through the crevices of his hut, without feeling sensible pain.
During Mr. Park's stay, a child died in an adjoining tent. The mother and relations immediately began the death howl, in which they were joined by several female visitors. He had no opportunity of seeing the burial, which is performed secretly during night, near the tent. They plant a particular shrub over the grave, which no stranger is allowed to pluck, nor even touch.
About the same time a moorish wedding was celebrated, the ceremony of which is thus described by Mr. Park. "In the evening the tabala or large drum was beaten to announce a wedding, which was held at one of the neighbouring tents. A great number of people of both sexes assembled, but without that mirth and hilarity which take place at a negro wedding; here there was neither singing nor dancing, nor any other amusement that I could perceive. A woman was beating the drum, and the other women joining at times like a chorus, by setting up a shrill scream, and at the same time moving their tongues from one side of the mouth to the other with great celerity. I was soon tired and had returned to my hut where I was sitting almost asleep, when an old woman entered with a wooden bowl in her hand, and signified that she had brought me a present from the bride. Before I could recover from the surprise which this message created, the woman discharged the content of the bowl full in my face. Finding that it was the same sort of holy water, with which, among the Hottentots, a priest is said to sprinkle a new-married couple, I began to suspect that the old lady was actuated by mischief or malice, but she gave me seriously to understand, that it was a nuptial benediction from the bride's own person, and which, on such occasions, is always received by the young unmarried Moors as a mark of distinguished favour. This being the ease, I wiped my face and sent my acknowledgments to the lady. The wedding drum continued to beat, and the women to sing, or rather to whistle during the whole of the night. About nine in the morning, the bride was brought in state from her mother's tent, attended by a number of women, who carried her tent, being a present from her husband, some bearing up the poles, others holding by the strings, and in this manner they marched, whistling as formerly, until they came to the place appointed for her residence, where they pitched the tent. The husband followed with a number of men leading four bullocks, which they tied to the tent strings, and having killed another, and distributed the beef among the people, the ceremony was concluded."