[Footnote 23: He believed that all the provisions which were in the King's magazine belonged to me.]
[Footnote 24: This odour was nothing more than lavender-water, with which my linen had been sprinkled.]
I believe I escaped much bad usage from his saying that Prince Allicoury had paid me a visit. To enforce this idea still more, I counterfeited his buffoons, whom they called _Egeums_. This kind of farce so much pleased my master, that he made me repeat it as often as he found opportunity. He made use of this stratagem to divert those among them, whom he suspected as inclined to pilfer, and thus cunningly occupied their attention. No sooner did he make known my talent for imitating the _Egeums_, than I was surrounded by men, women, and children, who constantly bawled out to me _ganne_, (sing then). I had no sooner finished, than I was obliged to begin again; and this I was constrained to do, not only to amuse them, but (why should I not own it?) to procure a tasting of camel's milk--as a reward for this my mean buffoonery.
We rested one day in this village, where the inhabitants, however ill they behaved at first, did not fail to give us provisions for three or four days. The plains which we passed over in proceeding towards the east country, were covered with small stones as white as snow, round and flat as a lentil. As we proceeded, we perceived a dull sound under our feet, as if the earth had been dug out below us. This country presented no variety to us; the ground was a continued plain, without producing even the smallest plant. The atmosphere was loaded with a reddish vapour. The whole country appeared as if filled with flaming volcanoes. The small stones pricked us, as if they had been sparks of fire. Neither birds nor insects were to be seen in the air. The profound silence which reigned was something frightful. If at any time a gentle breeze arose, the traveller immediately found himself affected with an extreme languor, the lips with chopping, the skin with a burning heat, and the whole body covered with small pimples, which occasioned a very sharp and disagreeable smarting. Our guides, who had gone far up into the country, to shun some tribes whom they had much cause to fear, were not luckier than we in escaping these disagreeable inconveniences, which we suffered in this part of our journey, where the fiercer animals would not enter. The rays of the sun darted upon the stones, and I feared, every minute, that their scorching reflection would have finished me.