May 3d. We departed from the vicinity of Farani, and after a circuitous
route through the woods, arrived at Ali's camp in the afternoon. This
encampment was larger than that of Benowm, and was situated in the middle
of a thick wood about two miles distant from a Negro town, called
Bubaker. I immediately waited upon Ali, in order to pay my respects to
Queen Fatima, who had come with him from Saheel. He seemed much pleased
with my coming; shook hands with me, and informed his wife that I was the
Christian. She was a woman of the Arab cast, with long black hair, and
remarkably corpulent. She appeared at first rather shocked at the thought
of having a Christian so near her; but when I had (by means of a Negro
boy, who spoke the Mandingo and Arabic tongues) answered a great many
questions, which her curiosity suggested, respecting the country of the
Christians, she seemed more at ease, and presented me with a bowl of
milk; which I considered as a very favourable omen.

The heat was now almost insufferable; all nature seemed sinking under it.
The distant country presented to the eye a dreary expanse of sand, with a
few stunted trees and prickly bushes, in the shade of which the hungry
cattle licked up the withered grass, while the camels and goats picked
off the scanty foliage. The scarcity of water was greater here than at
Benowm. Day and night the wells were crowded with cattle, lowing and
fighting with each other to come at the troughs; excessive thirst made
many of them furious: others, being too weak to contend for the water,
endeavoured to quench their thirst by devouring the black mud from the
gutters near the wells; which they did with great avidity, though it was
commonly fatal to them.

This great scarcity of water was felt severely by all the people of the
camp, and by none more than myself; for though Ali allowed me a skin for
containing water, and Fatima, once or twice, gave me a small supply, when