from Sultan En-Noor at Aheer.

3d. They refused to conduct us to the frontier of Aheer, according to
their agreement at Mourzuk.

4th. They demanded seventy reals for the passage of our free blacks.

5th. They insisted on having the presents for Berka, Khanouhen, and
Jabour, before the treaty was signed.

The first two demands I successfully resisted, as also the third at
Ghât. The fourth was compromised; we paid twenty-eight reals instead of
seventy. The last I yielded, on the condition that I should only give
three burnouses.

_13th._--The water of Esalan is, likewise, nothing but a deposit of
rain. Several holes are scooped out in the sand, down to the rocky bed
of the valley.




CHAPTER XIII.

News of Sidi Jafel--Disputes with Wataitee--His violent Conduct and
strange Language--The Desert--Scarcity of Money--Proceed through a rocky
Country--Soudan Weather--Approach the Frontiers of Aheer--Storm--Hard
Day's Travelling--The Seven Wells of Aisou--"The Haghar are
coming"--Suspicious Characters--Alarm--The Three Strangers--Our
Hospitality--Heat of the Weather--Hard Travelling--Account of the