r.s^6 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER
plain their office and occupation. A Hybeer is a guide, 'from the Arabic word Hubbar, to inform, inftru(5t, or diretfl, 'becaufe they are u fed to do this office to the caravans tra- velhng through the defert in all its diredions, whether to Egypt and back again, the coaft of the Ked Sea, or the coun- ,'tries of Sudan, and the weftern extremities of Africa. They are men of great confideration, knowing pcrfeiflly the fitua- tion and properties of all kinds of water to be met on the route, the diftance of wells, whether occupied by enemies or not, and, if fo, the way to avoid them with the leaft in- convenience. It is alfo necelTary to them to know the places occupied by the fanoom, and the feafons of their blow- ing in thofe parts of the defert, likewife thofe occupied by moving fands. He generally belongs to fome powerful tribe of Arabs inhabiting thefe deferts, whofe protedtion he makes ufe of to affill his caravans, or prote(5l them in time of danger, and handfome rewards were always in his power to diilribute on fuch occafions ; but now that the Arabs in thefe deferts are everywhere without government, the trade between Abyffinia and Cairo given over, that be- tween Sudan and that metropohs much diminiflaed, the 'importance of that office of Hybeer, and its confideration, is fallen in proportion, and with thefe the fafe condu(51: ; and we fliall fee prefently a caravan cut off by the treachery of the very Hybeers that conducted them, the firll inflance of .the kind that ever happened.
One day, fitting in my tent mufliig upon the very un- promifing afpe^l of my affairs, an Arab of very ordinary ap- pearance, naked, with only a cotton cloth around his mid- ^,.dle, came up to me, and offered to condud: me to Barbar .and thence to Egy2:)t. He faid his houfe was at Daroo on the
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