I made during my stay in Sennaar frequent inquiries about the fly mentioned by Bruce; the people of Sennaar said they knew nothing of it;[62] but, in reply to my inquiries, referred to a worm, which they say comes out of the earth during the rainy season, and whose bite is dangerous.

The reptile species in Sennaar are numerous.  The houses are full of lizards, which, if you lie on the floor, you may feel crawling or running over you all night.  I saw at Sennaar a serpent of a species, I believe, never before mentioned.  It was a snake of about two feet long, and not thicker than my thumb, striped on the back, with a copper colored belly, and a flat head.  This serpent had four legs, which did not appear to be of any use to him, as they were short and hanging from the sides of his belly.  All his motions, which were quick and rapid, were made in the usual manner of serpents, i.e. upon its belly.[63]

I do not feel authorized to give an opinion as to the national character of the people inhabiting the kingdom of Sennaar; but I am obliged to consider the inhabitants of the capital as a very detestable people.  They are exceedingly avaricious, extortionate, faithless, filthy and cruel.[64] The men are generally tall and well shaped, but the females are, almost universally, the ugliest I ever beheld; this is probably owing to their being obliged to do all sorts of drudgery.

The children of these people, and indeed of all the tribes on the Upper Nile, go quite naked till near the age of puberty.  A girl unmarried is distinguished by a sort of short leather apron, composed of a great number of leather thongs hanging like tassels from a leather belt fastened round the waist:  and this is all her clothing, being no longer than that of our mother Eve after her fall.  The married women, however, are generally habited in long coarse cotton clothes, which they wrap round them so as to cover their whole person, except when they are at work, when they wrap the whole round the waist.

As to the manufactures of the people of the Upper Nile, they are limited, I believe, to the following articles, Earthenware for domestic uses and bowls for pipes; cotton cloths for clothing; knives, mattocks, hoes and ploughs, for agriculture, water-wheels for the same; horse furniture, such as the best formed saddles I ever rode on, very neatly fabricated; stirrups in the European form, made of silver for the chiefs, and not like those of the Turks; large iron spurs, bits with small chains for reins, to prevent them from being severed by the stroke of an enemy’s broadsword; long and double edged broadswords, with the guard frequently made of silver; iron heads for lances, and shields made of the hide of the elephant; to which may be added, that the women fabricate very beautiful straw mats.