COUNTllY-MAUCir. 43 scarce. Up to this date flesh has been served out but once. The Schaigies are ever the first, form the advance guard, and is any thing to be got, or any booty made, it fulls of course to their share, as they are first in the field. Often at night thirty or forty of them in all secrecy quit the camp, surprising any village they can hit on, lay hands on all they can, and ere morning are again retnvnod to the neighbourhood of the camp, and assume the demeanour of men bringing in their horses from pasturing.

oth April.—Contrary to all hope, the signal gun awoke us to-day at dawn, calling on us to march, though we had fully trusted that this day would also be a halt. Ere long vve joined the Pascha's motley train, and found ourselves, along with other Europeans, mixed up among former kings, little and great Sheiks, and their armourbearers, officers, scribes, and body-guards ; and equally singular must we have appeared to the others as they to us. We wore over our Turkish dresses, loose wide blouses, with doubly padded hoods as a protection from the sun's i*ays. Right and left surrounded us the wild crowd of Schaigies, on horseback ; and little peace or concord was there among their horses and the timid camels and dromedaries ; so that at length the Pascha ordered all riding the latter to move on in advance. We did so, and at once found ourselves in a thickly overgrown underwood, where the thorny mimosas ere long again raised their heads, putting our tarbooshes in much danger. Besides these, we observed tombubushes (hombuck), with rose-red round fruit, with a gelatinous sweet inside, about the size of a common gooseberry ; high heaths, and sammer of brightest green, as also a profusion of uschars overloaded with flowers, and great green seed pods.

The main road had been here and there widened by hewing away some of the trees, but it had already been taken by the cavalry and infantry on their asses ; so we had to make our way through the thick close bush as well as we could. All was now indescribable confusion, and had the foe set on us here with their javelins, things would certainly have gone ill with us. We came, even in the bush, to some spots cleared by fire, probably for the cultivation of durra. After a good hour, the ground became more favourable, a halt was at last made, and some order restored to us. The soil here seemed excellent, all covered with grasses, and