HABITS AND CUSTOMS. 103 breath. Those of our enemies, who were nearest, called out to me to desist ; and when I obeyed, my servant rolled himself about in the sand like a madman. The negro who had been the cause of the whole scene now walked up to me, took my hand, and said, "Have no fear, you shall not be hurt, because you have acknowledged the injury your servant has done me, and have punished him for it." An old man now imtied the cord which bound the hands and feet of the culprit, and approached me, to be informed of the whole aiFair. They proved to be Bakkara.* I invited the old man and the negro, of whom I have before spoken into my tent, where I entertained them with coffee, and gave them my pipe to smoke. Harmony was immediately restored, and every one conciliated. They asked me whence I came, and where I was travelling to, and then the conversation turned on other topics. When the night closed in, they all gradually retired, with the exception of five men, who remained with me all night as a guard, emptied several pots of merissa together, and kept up the fire, thus consuming the whole of the wood which had been the belli tetenima causa. When they took their leave of me in the morning, they presented me with a young gazelle, as provision for my further journey.

' I cannot sufficiently praise the kind, and even cor-Bakkara are a race of Arabs who occupy themselves with breeding cattle.