The chief sheikh, a very handsome man, is only to be distinguished from the rest of his tribe by his silver hilted sword. He is generally beloved by his subjects, and all his orders are executed with a punctuality on which but few governments can pride themselves. When out of doors he is always mounted, and his horse might have been the boast of the stud of an European court; for during all my travels I never saw a more beautiful animal, or one of such pure breed. The Dar-Hammer are very hospitable, and it requires but little trouble to win the affection of these simple children of nature, for they know but few wants, and are always satisfied with a trifle. The women are not handsome, but of very amiable disposition; they attend to the household affairs, and to the children, and occupy their leisure hours, of which there are certainly many, with their simple adornment. Their dress resembles that of the other tribes; not even their sheikh wears a covering to his head, nor do they indeed require it, for their bushy hair is so thick that the rays of the sun could not easily penetrate through it. It is an axiom that where there is no water neither man nor animals can live. A great tract of the Dar-Hammer forms, however, an exception to this rule. This appears indeed incredible, but it is, nevertheless, true; for when the rain-water which collects in the small ponds, called by the Dar-Hammer Fula, has evaporated, not a drop of drinkable water is, commonly speaking, to be found in the various districts they inhabit during three months of the year; and there are no wells or cisterns in the country, with the exception of the Nedjer wells. The villages, therefore, situated at a distance from these springs, are obliged to send their women, children, old and infirm men, their goats, sheep, and part of their camels, to the above-mentioned wells, and to Ketshmar, during three months of the year. Only the men, and a few camels, remain behind. To furnish a substitute for water they resort to the following plan: they cultivate large fields of water-melons, which ripen about the time at which the scarcity of water begins to be felt. The ripe fruit is daily gathered, and the juice expressed is not drunk, but used for merissa, or boiling the assida and woika: they escape one inconvenience which would result from a lack of water elsewhere, for they have no linen to wash, and those who wear so luxurious an article of dress as a shirt never wash it, even when there is abundance of water. The camels remaining with them receive two fresh melon husks daily. This allowance supplies them with the quantity of fluid necessary for them, and they do not suffer in the slightest degree from thirst; for, as a rule, camels are only watered every two or three days. CHAPTER XI. TRIBES BORDERING ON KORDOFAN, SHILLUK, NUBA, TAKALE, ETC.