Tuesday, February 22nd.—At 7.20. went on. Thermometer 5°. A very fine morning. At noon we passed over a wadey, called Zayra زيرا, with many shrubs in it, on which a few poor shepherds from Sockna were feeding their flocks. From 2. to 2.50. passed over a mountain top, called Dahr t’moumen دانحر تمومين, or “the Believer’s back.” At 5 stopped on a wadey, having travelled north 35°, east 14 miles. We were every evening much amused by a little Tibboo boy, called Moosa, about five years of age, whose master was always in the Kafflé next to us. This child had picked up a few words of Arabic, and spoke very prettily. The chief amusement of his master, and the Arabs who were with him, was to make Moosa dance, and then fight another boy of double his age. Whilst sitting opposite to each other by the fire, their masters made them fight with lighted sticks. Moosa, who always was the first to be enraged, began to call the other boy an infidel, to curse his father, and to use many other equally insulting speeches, which the Arabs taught him. The elder boy, provoked in his turn, then rose to revenge himself, when the little fellow darted at his legs, and by biting them unmercifully, was always sure of gaining the victory. The Moors never took the trouble of collecting wood for their fires, but waited until every Kafflé had supplied itself, when they sent Moosa to steal what he could. Owing to his small size, he succeeded in these pilferings, to my great amusement, for I found that though he stole from every one else, he never robbed me, but even supplied me when I was in want of fuel. He was repeatedly offered to me as a present by his master, and I have since been sorry I refused him: he was jet black, and extremely pretty. In all the difficult passes he rode on my right knee, telling me the way in which he was caught, and many long stories besides. If his master’s camels or mine chanced to stray, he would arm himself with a stick and go in search of them, nor would he give up the chase till he had driven them back; he was indeed a most engaging child, and I became very fond of him. Wednesday, 23rd February. Thermometer 4°.—At seven the camels took the road by a wadey to the left, whilst I and the slaves went over an almost inaccessible mountain, called Nufdai نوفدي, which brought us to the well at its foot, called Gutfa قتفا, about three miles distant from our last sleeping place; the water here is very good. We stopped an hour at the well to water and refresh the slaves and animals, and then wound along a wadey having many small Talhh trees in it, until we had made about six miles north-east, the mountains opening out on the left.