64 JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AFRICA.

we were convinced of his readiness to punish imposition ; that we wished to show the Arabs that they must in future treat travellers with respect ; that we should send word of the affair to Cairo, and they might rest assured that a second assault would he more severely dealt with. Since this had been demonstrated, we were Willing that the punishment should now cease, and in conclusion returned our thanks to the shekh, for his readiness to do us justice. This decision was received with great favor ; the two culprits came forward and kissed our hands and those of Achmet, and the villagers pronounced a unanimous sentence of " ta'ib I " (good !) The indiscreet youth again appeared, and this time with coffee, of which we partook with much relish, for this playing the Cadi was rather fatiguing. The shekh raised our hands to his forehead, and accompanied us to the end of the village, where we gave the coffee-bearer a backsheesh, dismissed our water-boys, and turned our donkeys' heads toward Abousir.

Achmet's dark skin was pale from his wounded pride, and I was faint from pyramid-climbing, but a cold fowl, eaten as we sat in the sun, on the border of the glowing Desert, comforted us. The dominion of the sand has here as distinct a bound as that of the sea ; there is not thirty yards from the black, pregnant loam, to the fiery plain, where no spear of grass grows. Our path lay sometimes on one side of this border, sometimes on the other, for more than an hour and a half, till we reached the ruined pyramids of Abousir, where it turned southward into the Desert. After seeing Cheops and Cephrenes, these pyramids are only interesting on account of their dilapidated state and the peculiarity of their forms, some of their sides taking a more obtuse angle at half their height.