They brought in a bowl of milk, and as the chaouch still continued to
caress his children, I left him to pass the night in his tent, and
pushed on to Wady Majeeneen, where my portion of the caravan had already
encamped. Mr. F. Warrington, with my German colleagues, were a little in
advance. The horses of the Pasha's cavalry were feeding around; for when
the first belt of sand is past, the country becomes an undulating
plain--a prairie, as they would call it in America--covered with patches
of corn herbage. Here and there are fields of barley; and a few Arab
tents, with flocks and herds near at hand, give a kind of animation to
the scene.

Next day (21st) it rained hard; but we went on a little to overtake Drs.
Barth and Overweg, whom we found in company with Mr. F. Warrington, Mr.
Vice-consul Reade, and Mr. Gaines the American consul. One of Mr.
Interpreter Moknee's wives had also come out here, to have some
settlement with her husband about support before she let him go. The
gentleman has two wives, both negresses; and had already made an
arrangement for the other, who has several children, of six mahboubs per
month. First come, first served. The second wife, who has two children,
only got three mahboubs a month. However, when matters were arranged,
the pair became rather more loving. These settlements are always hard
matters to manage, all the world over, and it is pleasant to get rid of
them. By the way, a son of the worthy Moknee, by a white woman now
dead--a lad of about twelve years of age--accompanies us, at least as
far as Mourzuk.

The most remarkable persons, however, whom I found at the encampment
were a couple of insane fellows, determined to follow us--perhaps to
show "by one satiric touch" what kind of madcap enterprise was ours. The
first was a Neapolitan, who had dogged me all the while I was at