travelling in these places, because though a Norfolk jacket, shirt,
and pair of trousers of it only weighed about four pounds, a great
consideration in a tropical country, where every extra ounce tells on
the wearer, it was warm, and offered a good resistance to the rays of
the sun, and best of all to chills, which are so apt to result from
sudden changes of temperature.

Never shall I forget the comfort of the "wash and brush-up," and of
those clean flannels. The only thing that was wanting to complete my joy
was a cake of soap, of which we had none.

Afterwards I discovered that the Amahagger, who do not reckon dirt among
their many disagreeable qualities, use a kind of burnt earth for washing
purposes, which, though unpleasant to the touch till one gets accustomed
to it, forms a very fair substitute for soap.

By the time that I was dressed, and had combed and trimmed my black
beard, the previous condition of which was certainly sufficiently
unkempt to give weight to Billali's appellation for me of "Baboon," I
began to feel most uncommonly hungry. Therefore I was by no means sorry
when, without the slightest preparatory sound or warning, the curtain
over the entrance to my cave was flung aside, and another mute, a
young girl this time, announced to me by signs that I could not
misunderstand--that is, by opening her mouth and pointing down it--that
there was something ready to eat. Accordingly I followed her into the
next chamber, which we had not yet entered, where I found Job, who had
also, to his great embarrassment, been conducted thither by a fair mute.
Job never got over the advances the former lady had made towards him,
and suspected every girl who came near to him of similar designs.