head and feet burnt lamps, and by his side were placed several of
the beautiful painted vases that I have described, which were perhaps
supposed to be full of provisions. The little chamber was crowded with
mourners, and with musicians playing on an instrument resembling a lyre,
while near the foot of the corpse stood a man holding a sheet, with
which he was preparing to cover it from view.

These sculptures, looked at merely as works of art, were so remarkable
that I make no apology for describing them rather fully. They struck
me also as being of surpassing interest as representing, probably with
studious accuracy, the last rites of the dead as practised among
an utterly lost people, and even then I thought how envious some
antiquarian friends of my own at Cambridge would be if ever I found an
opportunity of describing these wonderful remains to them. Probably they
would say that I was exaggerating, notwithstanding that every page of
this history must bear so much internal evidence of its truth that it
would obviously have been quite impossible for me to have invented it.

To return. As soon as I had hastily examined these sculptures, which
I think I omitted to mention were executed in relief, we sat down to a
very excellent meal of boiled goat's-flesh, fresh milk, and cakes made
of meal, the whole being served upon clean wooden platters.

When we had eaten we returned to see how Leo was getting on, Billali
saying that he must now wait upon _She_, and hear her commands. On
reaching Leo's room we found the poor boy in a very bad way. He had woke
up from his torpor, and was altogether off his head, babbling about some
boat-race on the Cam, and was inclined to be violent. Indeed, when we
entered the room Ustane was holding him down. I spoke to him, and my
voice seemed to soothe him; at any rate he grew much quieter, and was