East makes a polite man. If we be disposed to hurry, he insinuates that
"Patience is of Heaven, Haste of Hell." When roughly addressed, he
remarks,--

"There are cures for the hurts of lead and steel,
But the wounds of the tongue--they never heal!"

If a grain of rice adhere to our beards, he says, smilingly, "the gazelle
is in the garden;" to which we reply "we will hunt her with the five."
[14] Despite these merits, I hesitated to engage him, till assured by the
governor of Zayla that he was to be looked upon as a son, and, moreover,
that he would bear with him one of those state secrets to an influential
chief which in this country are never committed to paper. I found him an
admirable buffoon, skilful in filling pipes and smoking them; _au reste_,
an individual of "many words and little work," infinite intrigue,
cowardice, cupidity, and endowed with a truly evil tongue.

The morning sun rose hot upon us, showing Mayyum and Zubah, the giant
staples of the "Gate under the Pleiades." [15] Shortly afterwards, we came
in sight of the Barr el Ajam (barbarian land), as the Somal call their
country [16], a low glaring flat of yellow sand, desert and heat-reeking,
tenanted by the Eesa, and a meet habitat for savages. Such to us, at
least, appeared the land of Adel. [17] At midday we descried the Ras el
Bir,--Headland of the Well,--the promontory which terminates the bold
Tajurrah range, under which lie the sleeping waters of the Maiden's Sea.
[18] During the day we rigged out an awning, and sat in the shade smoking
and chatting merrily, for the weather was not much hotter than on English
summer seas. Some of the crew tried praying; but prostrations are not
easily made on board ship, and El Islam, as Umar shrewdly suspected, was
not made for a seafaring race. At length the big red sun sank slowly