MEHEMED ALl'S SLAVE-HUNTS. 317 <lo not expect to be besieged for a longer period, thus the scarcity of water is generally felt on the third day of the blockade. Nothing can be more frightful than the position of these unhappy men at this time. The fear of falling into the hands of the Turks on the one hand, and the certainty of death from thirst on the other, drives the poor wretches to the very verge of despair. This scarcity is immediately known in camp, for the screams of the children and the groans of the cattle betray the melancholy position of the village. The cattle runs about as if wild, and on the third day becomes so dangerous that the negroes are obliged to slay it. The human being struggles in despair with death, to find a mode of escape, but, alas ! in vain : the blood-thirsty huntsmen have surrounded their game too securely, thus not one soul can escape with his life. Many of the unhappy victims prefer death for themselves and their families to capti\'ity, whilst others endeavour to conceal themselves in caverns, and thus to spare themselves the awful miseries of slavery. The remainder call a meeting to concert upon the surrender of their village and their children. The calamity makes not the slightest impression upon their persecutors, who remain quiet beholders of all these horrors, impatiently awaiting the moment when they shall receive their victims. The scarcity of water does not apply to all the hills without exception, for several of them are well supplied with water, and are not