repast, we abandoned the rest of our prize, and pursued our journey on a long trot.

We had not travelled more than half an hour, when we saw the owner of the camels running swiftly in chase of us. Seedy Hamed said to me, "That fellow is a poor devil; he has not even a musket; and he let me take this bag while he was asleep." My masters kept their guns in their hands, ready to fire, and made signs for the man to go back; but he continuing to advance, they halted. The stranger then, bowing himself down, declared that he had lost a part of his property, and he knew they must have taken it; that he was their brother, and he would rather die than commit a bad action, or suffer others to do it with impunity; that the God of justice would protect the innocent, and he did not fear those who had injured him. Seedy Hamed then bade him approach. Is it peace?" demanded the stranger. "It is peace," replied Seedy Hamed. They then saluted each other with, "Peace be to you," and "To you peace; peace be to your house, peace be to all your friends, &c;" and, shaking each ather cordially by the hand, they seated themselves in a circle to discuss the affair.

After a long debate, in which Seedy Hamed justified the theft, because I, their slave, was in a state of starvation, a fact which was apparent in my countenance, he added, "You would not have refused him a morsel, if you had been awake." The restitution of the barley, the remainder of the bag of meal, and a very small bag which I imagined contained opium, was, however, finally agreed upon; the Arabs prayed together; we re

MARCH IN THE DESERT.

243

sumed our journey, and I was left to starvation as before.

Famished as I was, I did not approve of the morality of my master. master. Want of vigilance in the owner of the grain was mentioned to me as a plea in favour of the theft; but necessity, not the right of robbing an unarmed and sleeping man, was the argument used to the owner. I expected that my master would have retained the property under the title which is said to be nine points even of our law, that of possession. I computed this day's journey at fifty-six miles.

In the night we heard the voices of men, and in the morning we saw camels browsing on the bushes in the valley in which we had halted. An old woman made her appearance, and, finding we wanted food, she dispatched a boy for the remains of a goat; my share was the entrails and the bones, ⚫ which I gnawed and swallowed. The good woman then gave to each of us half a pint of water coloured with sour milk.

We pursued our journey on the level desert, our view on every side bounded only by the horizon, except on the left, where rose a chain of lofty sand-hills. Near these, we discovered a man, mounted on a camel, advancing swiftly towards

us.

My masters stopped, and having buried something in the sand, awaited his approach. We recognised in the traveller the man who had been plundered the preceding day, and he now told my conductors that they had not only robbed, but deceived him, not having restored the whole of his property. They denied the charge, shewed that they had nothing about them of the kind he described, and bade him search the lading of their

camels. They called God to witness that they had nothing of his in their possession. This was true; but it bordered so nearly upon a lie that I could not acquit them of falsehood: the man, however, seemed satisfied, and rode off. When he was gone, they dug up the treasure, which Seedy Hamed shewed me, saying, "That fellow wanted his bags, but he has not yet got them." One of these bags contained some opium, and several hollow sticks, about the thickness of a man's finger, and six or eight inches long, filled with gold dust the other contained tobacco, and the roots of a plant, which, as it rendered a man invulnerable to the powers of witchcraft, was more valuable than the gold.

This part of the robbery was more aggra vated in its circumstances, and more atrocious in its kind, than the other, of which famine might afford some palliation. When I found myself dependent upon thieves, I might have distrusted their intentions respecting myself, had not those thieves been Arabs; but with the traveller, Seedy Hamed had made no engagement, he was therefore, as he believed, at liberty to plunder him; I had his word for my safety, which an Arab considers as inviolable.

After travelling about thirty-five miles in the direction of east-north-east, we passed the night on the hard surface of the desert.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE SAHARA. SUSE. ARRIVAL AT MOGADOR.

Here

I HAD now been travelling eleven days with the merchants. On the twelfth we rode rapidly till the afternoon, when we discovered the tracks of some camels. We followed them till we reached a large number of these animals, that were feeding on scattered bushes in a small valley, while a few sheep and goats were nibbling the short brown moss. After due salutations, which were very tedious, with the owners of the flocks, my masters were invited to pass the night at their encampment, which we reached in half an hour. we found about twenty tents pitched in a valley, near a small thicket of what might be called thorny trees, the first I had seen in the desert above the stature of a bush; the merchants here bought and killed a kid, and our hosts gave each of us a draught of water. At midnight, their usual hour of taking refreshment, I was presented with a bowl of hot hasty pudding, with sauce of sweet milk, which was to me the most delicious food I ever tasted. We had travelled this day about forty-five miles.

The next day, having rode ten hours in a northeasterly direction, we came to a deep well of brackish water, situated in the centre of a clump of tall bushes. Men were here busied in watering their camels; they saluted us in a friendly

manner; and, having watered ours, we proceeded to the eastward, and, in about an hour, we found two more wells, the water of which was very salt. Here was a great number of camels, probably a hundred, and I was obliged to assist in drawing water for them. For this I had the privilege of lodging near a tent, but I had no food given me whatever. I estimated our day's journey at fortyfive miles.

As soon as day-light appeared we set off, and kept steadily on our way till after it was dark, when we took up our lodging on the hard ground. We must have travelled thirteen hours this day over the dreary desert, and I believed the distance could not have been less than fifty-two miles.

I calculated our next day's journey at seventy miles, having ridden fourteen hours at the rate, as I supposed, of five miles an hour. We passed a herd of camels, but saw not a human being. We reached a large cluster of bushes, which had appeared like an island in a lake, while day remained for us to distinguish it in the distant horizon; but I believe it was ten o'clock at night before we arrived at the spot. We were here sheltered from the wind, though without any thing to satisfy our hunger.

We had passed the night in perfect silence, and had not kindled a fire, lest the place should already have been occupied by some more powerful party; but, in the morning, neither enemy nor friend appeared; and, having watered our camels, at a well of brackish water that was among the bushes, we continued our journey. About nine o'clock, Seedy Hamed told me that we should soon have some meat, for there were goats not far distant. He