During Mr. Ritchie’s illness, an old man, aged eighty, came to consult us about his back, which was very much bent, and had been so for many years: he had seen us give a liniment to a person who had sprained his ankle, which got well in a few days; and his request was, that some of the same medicine might be given him to strengthen his back, which, he said, was becoming very inconvenient to him. One of the Tuarick, who had taken a very strong dose of salts, brought a friend to interpret for him, as he understood but little Arabic, and begged to be told what he was to do to stop the effects of the dose, lest, not rightly understanding me, he might be in danger of dying on the road. A Negress of the Sultan’s chief man being sick, sent her armlet to Mr. Ritchie, by which he was to discover her disorder, and to send her the requisite medicine. The Sultan’s own women were continually sending little bottles for something to cause them to bear children, and their emissaries sometimes whispered whether it was a boy or girl that was desired. Mr. Ritchie prescribed for the whole of the Sultan’s establishment, which, with the males and females, might amount to at least a hundred. Numbers came or sent daily with such an air of authority, as led us to suppose that Mukni had spread a report of his paying liberally for Mr. Ritchie’s attentions, which was not the case; on the contrary, we were all day weighing out doses for the slaves, who never even thanked us for our trouble; and when we were poor and destitute of every comfort, Mukni never gave us the slightest assistance: if, however, any of his family required charms for their disorders, the writers were liberally rewarded, and the effect of the medicines always attributed to those charms. When I commanded at the laboratory, I took good care to give such doses as were not easily forgotten, and, in consequence, none of his household ever after sent for medicine, unless really ill. Many of the women required a great deal of explanation, as to how any thing taken into the stomach could relieve a head-ache. Purgatives were always despised in comparison with emetics. The allowance which would suffice for a strong European took no effect with them; but when a double dose was given, it pleased so much, that many requests were made for “Just such another dose as was given to such a one, which made him so sick that he almost died.” The prevalent disorder when a man wanted medicine for novelty’s sake was, being “ill all over.”