to appear. A spring of salt water issued from the side of the second mountain, which was conducted by small channels, into a shallow pan formed to receive it. Here the water soon evaporated by the heat of the sun, and a crystallization of excellent salt remained. I estimated the number of camels, mules, and asses, that were now waiting for their loads of this salt, at from four to five hundred, and we had met hundreds laden with it on our road from Shtuka.

The next day we proceeded through a rough stoney country, and arrived at Mogador, which is about seventy-six miles from Agadeer. My ransom had been paid to Seedy Hamed, who met me on the road; and I was presented to my deliverer, who lodged me in his house, and provided me with every convenience and comfort.

CHAPTER XV.

VARIOUS TRAVELS IN THE SAHARA.

I HAD ever a great desire to gain information respecting the Sahara, which, though it contain little variety in itself, forms a great variety on the face of the globe. I wished to become acquainted with its trackless paths, so little known to Europeans, yet so regularly trodden by Moors and Arabs. I wished to learn the manners and modes of men, in a country where nature has done so little, and where much personal activity and hardihood are requisite to sustain human life. I looked with eager curiosity beyond this desert, towards the negro kingdoms, which no European eye has seen. Moving sands, hot winds, and plundering Arabs, were objects not unknown to me; yet my mind grasped every portion of information that could be obtained relating to these spectres of my childhood, and my ear listened attentively to the accounts of those who were better acquainted with them than myself. I shall detail the result of my enquiries; beginning with the narrative of a Frenchman,* who, like me, was shipwrecked, but, not like me, on the desolate coast of the Sahara.

The Frenchman's captivity took place near Wedinoon, a spot at which the worst part of my journey was ended. On sight of the wrecked ves

* Saugnier.

sel, the Arabs came running, and shouting, to the sea shore, in crowds. As the Europeans swam on shore, they were asssembled round a large fire; and afterwards conducted about a mile and a half up the country, where a bloody conflict ensued between their captors for the possession of their persons. The relator of the story had the misfortune to be stopped by two Arabs almost at the same instant. He who had touched him first pretended that he was his, and such indeed was the law; but the other, too barbarous to attend to either law or reason, attempted to end the dispute by the death of the captive. He parried the stab of the dagger, and had only two fingers wounded. This action cost the aggressor his life; he had not time to put himself upon his guard against the other claimant, whose dagger laid him breathless at his feet.

The Arab, who was now the undisputed master of the Frenchman, led him to the place where his brothers, his wives, and his slaves were encamped. The fire they applied to his wounded fingers stopped the bleeding, plants dipped in oil were wrapped round his hand, and he soon experienced a perfect cure. In the mean time he found himself naked, hungry, and surrounded by people whom he calls barbarians; his misfortune was too great for him to feel it. He expected every moment to be his last, and he waited for the stroke that was to end his life without inquietude. The dressing of his wounds did not remove this idea; he fancied he was reserved for a family repast; and it was not till milk had been given him at night, and the Arabs had taken evident pleasure in seeing him drink it, that he was convinced he was not to

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be roasted. He passed, however, a miserable night, stretched naked on the sand, and exposed to the air.

The next morning, not liking his present quarters, and observing that little notice was taken of him, he determined to endeavour to better his fortune; and he made towards the interior of the country, without knowing whither he was going. He had not proceeded two miles, when he was met by a party of Arabs, who were now his masters, and who obliged him to quicken his pace, that they might avoid all dispute with his former owner. They conducted him to some tents, where he saw numbers of camels and goats; they gave him milk as soon as he arrived, and covered him with a garment of goat-skins, sewed together. Here it was not safe for them to repose with the prize they had taken; the Frenchman was obliged to walk during the remainder of the day; and he passed the night most peacefully, though without any shelter..

Scarcely had the sun risen, when the camels were ready for the journey; one of the Arabs took the captive behind him, and at three o'clock they arrived at their tents. Here he remained two days, and, on the third, three Arabs, naked, but well armed, took him away. They travelled sixteen days in a southern direction, and crossed several rivers. The Frenchman believed that the Arabs were to have sold him in the vicinity of the Senegal, by order of his master; but that, fearing to be robbed of their prize, they dared not advance any farther. On the first day, his footsteps were marked with blood; but the Arabs having drawn out the thorns, and scraped the soles of his feet with their daggers, they plastered them over with

tar and sand, and he walked without farther pain or difficulty. They rested three days in a forest of gum-trees, the only one, as I believe, ever seen in the Desert by a European, and then set out on their return to the tent they had quitted; which they reached after having been absent thirty-four days. Thirty of these had been days of walking, and four of rest.

The food of the Frenchman, during this laborious march, was the meal of barley or millet, mixed with brackish water, or fresh, when they had the good fortune to find it; and milk mixed with the urine of the camels. There were also found, in some places, abundance of truffles, which he ate with great relish. The Arabs were content with the milk of their camels.

The Frenchman had no reason to complain of his conductors, who treated him with kindness, and, as far as lay in their power, procured for him whatever seemed to please him most. When they halted in the evening they went themselves in quest of wood for the night, and left to him the care of the camels and baggage; and often, when they perceived he was much fatigued, they halted two or three hours before the setting of the sun. He was so sincerely attached to them, that it was with regret he saw them leave the encampment the day after their arrival, and he never saw them more. In this journey the travellers met with very excellent land in what the Frenchman calls the Desert.

The horde to which he belonged occupied fiftytwo tents; but they were sometimes together, and sometimes divided, as the convenience of pasturage required. The men passed their time in hunt