When the barbarians had gone, Nilus helped to bury the dead, and was presently joined by one of the youths who had been carried off but escaped. He described how the barbarians erected an altar, collected wood as a preparation for sacrificing to Lucifer. This he was told by a fellow captive who understood their language. The youths lay bound ready for sacrifice, but he escaped by wriggling away on the ground like a snake. His account filled Nilus with apprehension as to the fate of his son, but in his misery he was upheld by the courage of a woman of Pharan, whose son had actually been murdered. As there had been other outrages, it was decided in the council (βουλή) at Pharan to lodge a complaint with the phylarch or king of the barbarians (p. 663). His relation to the Roman empire was apparently that he must keep the peace and safeguard those who passed through his territory, in return for which he received a grant (_annonæ_). On much the same basis, the sheykhs of Sinai under British rule, are responsible for keeping the peace, in return for which they receive a grant in money which they must call for in person at Suez. Envoys were therefore despatched to the phylarch. They carried bows and arrows, and a stone for striking fire, which would enable them to live by killing and roasting game, “for there is wood in abundance that serves as firewood, since no one fells trees in the desert” (p. 663). During their absence Nilus and others went the round of the neighbouring settlements, where the hermits had been attacked. At Bethrambe (or Thrambe) they buried Proclus; at Salael[166] they buried Hypatius; Macarius and Marcus they found dead in the desert; Benjamin had been slain at Elim; Eusebius was still alive at Tholas; in Adze they found Elias dead (p. 663).