that a "_sebâá_" was a lion, and I went to sleep again. The next day, in
traversing the forest, the arrangement of the caravan was changed. It
was grouped in the smallest space possible; one Kabyl was at the head,
his gun ready for service; another was in the rear, in the same
position. I inquired of the owner of the mule the cause of these unusual
precautions. He answered me, that they were dreading an attack from a
"_sebâá_" and that if this should occur, one of us would be carried off
without having time to put himself on the defensive. "I would rather be
a spectator," I said to him, "than an actor in the scene you describe;
consequently, I will give you two piastres more if you will keep your
mule always in the centre of the moving group." My proposal was
accepted. It was then for the first time that I saw that my Arab carried
a yatagan under his tunic, which he used for pricking on the mule the
whole time that we were in the thicket. Superfluous cautions! The
"_sebâá_" did not show himself.

Each village being a little republic, whose territory we could not cross
without obtaining permission and a passport from the Mahomedan priest
_président_, the priest who conducted our caravan used to leave us in
the fields, and went sometimes a good way off to a village to solicit
the permission without which it would have been dangerous to continue
our route. He remained entire hours without returning to us, and we then
had occasion to reflect sadly on the imprudence of our enterprise. We
generally slept amongst habitations. Once, we found the streets of a
village barricaded, because they were fearing an attack from a
neighbouring village. The foremost man of our caravan removed the
obstacles; but a woman came out of her house like a fury, and belaboured
us with blows from a pole. We remarked that she was fair, of brilliant
whiteness, and very pretty.