their horses' hoofs on the sand as we advanced. At first we were not
sorry that they were suffering a little for their bad conduct all the
way from Tripoli, to which I have only made passing allusions. But then
we began to be alarmed for their safety, and begged the Sheikh to send a
man after them with water. They did not make their appearance until
morning, when we learned that with immense fatigue they had succeeded in
striking the valley lower down at another village, where they had
tarried the remainder of the night. As might be expected, they were in
no good humour after their excursion in the sand; but our people, who
had enjoyed a brief respite of unwonted tranquillity during their
absence, instead of condoling with them, received them with laughter and
jeers.

The Sheikh Abd-el-Hady sent us breakfast, and he and his people were far
more polite than yesterday. We learned that there was a caravan in the
wady about to start for Ghât, and I took the opportunity to write to
that place to produce a proper impression of our views and intentions,
as I learned that a very erroneous one had gone abroad. The Sheikh and
his elders came to ask me to _lend_ them twelve mahboubs, to make up the
amount of tribute now being collected by the agents of the Pasha of
Mourzuk. Of course I did not consent, representing that I was at the
outset of a long journey, and that the Pasha would certainly punish them
if he ever heard that such a request had been made. As a solace for the
disappointment, I gave the Sheikh three handkerchiefs and a
pocket-knife. The Tuaricks came in for a little soap, an article
seemingly in universal request.

El-Wady is a deep valley, lying like a moat between the elevated sandy
desert and the plateau on which Mourzuk is situated. This plateau, at
the distance of every few miles, juts out huge buttresses of