One thing had made a very strong impression on me, which was the contemptuous manner in which Adelan expressed himself as to his sovereign. I was satisfied that, with some address, I could keep myself in favour with either of them; but in the terms they then were, or were very soon to be, I could not but fear I was likely to fall into trouble between the two. The next morning, after I came home from Aira, I was agreeably surprised by a visit from Hagi Belal, to whom I had been recommended by Metical Aga, and to whom Ibrahim Seraff, the English broker at Jidda, had addressed me for any money I should need at Sennaar. He welcomed me with great kindness, and repeated testimonies of joy and wonder at my safe arrival. He had been down in Atbara at Gerri, or some villages near it, with merchandize, and had not yet seen the king since he came home, but gave me the very worst description possible of the country, insomuch that there seemed to be not a spot, but the one I then stood on, in which I was not in imminent danger of destruction, from a variety of independent causes, which it seemed not possibly in my power to avoid. He sent me in the evening some refreshments, which I had long been unaccustomed to; some tea, excellent coffee, some honey and brown sugar, several bottles of rack, likewise nutmegs, cinnamon, ginger, and some very good dates of the dry kind which he had brought from Atbara. Hagi Belal was a native of Morocco. He had been at Cairo, and also at Jidda and Mocha. He knew the English well, and professed himself both obliged and attached to them. It was some days before I ventured to speak to him upon money business, or upon any probability of finding assistance here at Sennaar. He gave me little hopes of the latter, repeating to me what I very well knew about the disagreement of the king and Adelan. He seemed to place all his expectations, and those were but faint ones, in the coming of Shekh Abou Kalec from Kordofan. He said, nothing could be expected from Shekh Adelan without going to Aira, for that he would never trust himself in Sennaar, in this king's lifetime, but that the minister was absolute the moment he assembled his troops without the town.